Medagam Thirupathi Reddy, Kadiyala Hari Babu, Mutyala Ganesh, Konda Chandrasekhar Reddy, Hameedunnisa Begum, Reddivenkatagari Subbararama Krishna Reddy and Jampala Dilip Babu

pp. 133 - 141

Abstract

Combining ability variances and effects of yield and its components in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)
were studied through half diallel analysis of 45 F₁ hybrids derived by crossing 10 nearly homozygous germplasm lines namely
P₁
(IC282248), P₂
(IC27826-A), P₃
(IC29119-B), P₄
(IC31398-A), P₅
(IC45732), P₆
(IC89819), P₇
(IC89976), P₈
(IC90107), P₉
(IC99716) and
P₁₀(IC111443) during mid kharif (July-October), 2009, at the Vegetable Research Station, Rajendranagar, Andhra Pradesh,
India. Both additive and non-additive variances were important for a majority of the characters except plant height, fruit and
shoot borer infestation on fruits and shoots and yellow vein mosaic virus infestation on plants. Genetic analysis revealed a
preponderance of non-additive gene action for plant height, internodal length, days to 50% flowering, first flowering and
fruiting node, fruit length and weight, total number of fruits and number of marketable fruits per plant, total yield and marketable yield per plant and yellow vein mosaic virus infestation on fruits and plants and a preponderance of additive gene action
for number of branches per plant and fruit and shoot borer infestation on fruits and shoots. The parents P₅
(IC45732), P₆
(IC89819) and P₇
(IC89976) were high general combiners for total and marketable yield per plant and their associated traits,
which could be exploited for developing prolific pure line varieties of okra. The crosses C₂₃(IC29119-B × IC99716), C₁₇(IC
27826-A × IC111443), C₄₂(IC89976 × IC111443) were superior specific combiners for total and marketable yield per plant with
the potential of being commercially exploited for the production of F₁
 hybrids. The cross combinations C₄₂ (IC89976 × IC
111443) and (IC27826-A × IC89819) having one of the parents with positively significant general combining ability effects for
total yield and marketable yield per plant could be utilized in recombination breeding with single plant selection in the passing generations to capitalize additive gene action to develop high yielding lines or varieties in okra.

Keywords

• combining ability effects
• gene effects
• germplasm lines
• half diallel analysis
• half diallel crosses