DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2020.v07i08.001

Pages: 177-179

Present study was conducted during growing seasons 2018 and 2019 to explore the genetic makeup of five maize inbred lines: Elp-426, Elp-433, Elp-612, Elp-326 and Elp-780. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences for the quantitative traits like grain yield, cob length, rows per cob and number of grains per row. GCA was highly significant for cob length and rows per cob while significant for grain yield and number of grains per row. SCA was highly significant for grain yield, number of grains per row and rows per cob while it was significant for cob length. GCA / SCA ratio was greater than unity indicating that additive gene action had major contribution in the inheritance of these characters. Elp-433 was the best general combiner for grain yield, rows per cob and number of grains per row. Elp-426 and Elp-326 were good general combiners for grain yield and cob length. Elp-326 X Elp-780 was the best specific combination for grain yield, rows per cob and number of grains per row. Elp-426 X Elp-433 showed promise for all the metric traits studied. The crosses Elp-426 X Elp-780, Elp-433 X Elp-326, Elp-426 X Elp-612, Elp-612 X Elp-326 and Elp-433 X Elp-612 also exhibited worth regarding grain yield and some of its attributes. These findings clearly indicated that the experimental material had sufficient variability which can successfully be used to boost yield by gene pyramiding through recurrent selection.