Combining ability analysis for green forage associated traits in sorghum-sudangrass hybrids under water stress

Ameer Bibi, Hafeez Sadaqat, Qurban Ali

Deptt of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Pakistan. 2 Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Pakistan

*1 Corresponding author Emil: ameerbibi@gmail.com

Abstract :

For Pakistan as an agricultural country; livestock sector have a foremost importance as contributing 53.2% in agriculture and 11.4% in national GDP. But regrettably livestock sector is getting decline day by day due to non-availability of enough and quality feed. Drought is worldwide problem and is relentlessly affecting the yield and productivity of crop plants. The proposed study was conducted in the research fields of the department of Plant Breeding and Genetics during 2007-08. The experimental material was generated by using 10 sorghum and 5 sudangrass accessions. Sorghum as female lines and sudangrass as male were crossed in a line x tester mating design. The sorghum-sudangrass hybrids along with parents were evaluated under normal and water stress conditions. The analysis of variance of data was recorded for various forage yield components indicated that there were significant differences among genotypes under normal and water stress conditions. Reduction has been observed in all forage yield components under water stress. The higher GCA was estimated for accession 8614 (Sudan grass) for number of leaves per plant, number of tillers per plant and green forage yield under normal as well as under water stress condition. Under normal, the higher SCA was recorded for crosses for plant height, number of tillers per plant, leaf area and green forage yield for 80204 x 8614, 80199 x Succro, 80114 x 8614, 80376 x 337 and 80376 x Line7 crosses, respectively. Under water stress, the SCA was estimated for plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of tillers per plant, leaf area and green forage yield for 80364 x Line7, 80365 x 8614 and 80114 x 8614, 80353 x Line7 and 80376 x Line7 crosses, respectively. The higher values of GCA and SCA indicated that the selection on the basis of number of leaves per plant, number of tillers per plant and green forage yield may be helpful to increase green forage yield. Key words: GCA, SCA, forage, hybrids, line x tester, sorghum, sudangrass and water stress