Jul 2026· Frontiers in Horticulture· 0 citations· 27 references
Abstract
Onion (
Allium cepa
L.) is the second most commonly produced and consumed vegetable worldwide. In West Africa, high heat and moisture are key constraints for onion productivity during the rainy-season. This study aimed to assess the combining ability, heterosis, and genetic variability of five onion genotypes and 10 F
1
hybrids generated through a half diallel mating design to identify superior parental lines and hybrids adapted to heat and moisture conditions.
The experiment involved five parents: Prema 178, EW001, Violet d’Abéché, Violet de Galmi and AC980. The trials were implemented on station at the World Vegetable Center in Samanko by using a randomized complete block design. Twelve morphological, physiological, and agronomic traits were evaluated.
Analysis of variance showed substantial genetic variability. Significant general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects indicated that both additive and non-additive gene actions influence key traits. The best general combiner was Parent P1 (Prema 178), which had the best positive GCA effects on plant survival rate (5 and 4.98), plant height (2.36 and 2.53), number of bulbs (5.82 and 3.38), and bulb yield (2.09 and 2.44). The hybrids P4×P5 (Violet de Galmi x AC980) and P1xP5 (Prema 178×AC980) had the most positive SCA effects and the best heterosis values over the midparent (105.26%) and better parent (94.56%) for bulb yield, as well as strong vigor and root growth.
These results demonstrate that the hybrids P4×P5, P1×P5, and P3×P5 are good candidates for multilocation testing in high heat and high moisture prone conditions.
Aims: To evaluate the combining ability, determine the nature of gene action governing yield, oil content and associated traits, and identify superior parents and promising hybrid combinations for sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) improvement.
Study Design: Line × tester mating design.
Place and Duration of Study: Oilseeds Research Station, Latur, Maharashtra, India, during kharif 2025 (hybrid development) and rabi 2025–26 (field evaluation).
Methodology: Six cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and seven restorer lines were crossed in a line × tester mating design to generate 42 hybrids. The resulting hybrids, along with their 13 parents and three standard checks, were evaluated in a randomised block design with two replications for ten agro-morphological and quality traits. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, line × tester analysis to estimate general and specific combining ability, and assessment of gene action following the method of Kempthorne (1957).
Results: Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits studied, indicating substantial genetic variability. Line × tester analysis showed significant GCA and SCA effects for most traits, with non-additive gene action predominating for seed yield and several associated traits. Among the parents, NDCMS 2A and CMS 597A were identified as good general combiners among the lines, while NDL20, NDL3 and GMU847 were the most desirable testers for seed yield, oil content and associated traits. The crosses NDCMS 2A × NDL20, CMS 597A × NDL20, CMS 597A × NDL3, CMS 852A × GMU847 and CMS 597A × HOCL-20R exhibited desirable specific combining ability effects coupled with superior per se performance, indicating their potential for exploitation in sunflower hybrid breeding.
Conclusion: The findings indicated the involvement of both additive and non-additive gene action in the inheritance of yield, oil content and associated traits in sunflower, with the predominance of non-additive gene action for most of the characters. The identified superior combiners and promising hybrid combinations provide valuable genetic resources for the development of high-yielding and high-oil sunflower hybrids and can be effectively utilised in future sunflower breeding programmes.
Surya Prakash Sharma, M. V. Dhuppe, S. Pole et al.· Plant cell biotechnology and...· 0 citations
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the primary staple food for more than half of the world's population, making the development of high-yielding cultivars essential for global food security. The present study evaluated genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, character associations, and principal components in an F₂ segregating population comprising 133 individual plants derived from the cross NPA-109 × DRR Dhan 74. The population was evaluated during Kharif 2025 at the research farm of the ICAR–Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR), Hyderabad. Five quantitative traits—plant height, number of tillers per plant, productive tillers per plant, panicle length, and grain yield per plant—were recorded. Phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation, broad-sense heritability, genetic advance as a percentage of the mean, Pearson's correlation, and principal component analysis were used to assess the genetic architecture of the population. The phenotypic coefficient of variation was consistently slightly higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation, indicating minimal environmental influence on trait expression. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for grain yield per plant, productive tillers, and number of tillers, suggesting the predominance of additive gene action and the potential effectiveness of direct selection. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis identified panicle length and productive tillers as important contributors to grain yield. Continuous frequency distributions further indicated quantitative inheritance and extensive genetic recombination within the population. Superior transgressive segregants, particularly DBN-25-2-1 and DBN-25-7-10, exhibited high grain yield and represent valuable breeding material for advancement to subsequent generations and the development of high-yielding rice cultivars.
Naresh Kumar Sahu, D. Gauraha, A. Sao et al.· Journal of Advances in Biolo...· 0 citations
It is crucial to know the heritable portion of variation as it provides variability component measure for the transmission of characters to the next generation. This study was aimed at the estimation of genotypic variability for agronomic traits in chemically mutagenized groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) genotypes. Although groundnut ranks second among oil seed crops in the world after sun flower and also an excellent source of protein, carbohydrates minerals and antioxidant, the production in Nigeria is constrained by multiple factors including low genetic variability which impact the development of high-yielding varieties. Pot trials were carried out during 2025 and 2026 dry seasons under screen house at the teaching and research field, Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Bayero University, Kano. The seeds of the two improved groundnut genotype varieties (Samnut-24, Samnut-25) were collected from Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) and the two local varieties (’Yar-Gingo and ’Yar-Fara) were collected from Dawanau Market, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Kano State. The experimental design used was Complete Randomized Design (CRD) and the seeds of each variety were sorted out and surface sterilized in 2.0% Sodium hypochloride for 1minute and then rinsed. The seeds were soaked in different concentrations of Hydroxyalamine Hydrochloride (0.00mM, 1.0mM, 2.0mM, 3.0mM and 4.0mM) or Sodium Azide (0.00mM, 1.0mM, 2.0mM 3.0mM and 4.0mM) for three (3) hours. The results revealed significant variation among the genotypes. Genotypic (GCV %) coefficient of variation was observed lower than the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV %) for all the observed traits in this study, indicating that the environment significantly affect the expression of the traits. In Samnut-24 genotype, high genetic advance (GA) along with high heritability (H2) were observed in 100 Pod Weight and Biological Yield. Similarly, 100 Pod Weight of Samnut-25 genotype scored highest genetic advance (GA) of (32.95) and heritability (H2) of (61.92%) indicating genetic improvement through direct genotypic selection. It is recommended that, farmers should adopt the use of genotypes with expressed additive gene action developed from variable components for crop improvement.
Abubakar K.D., Musa D.D., Kutawa A.B. et al.· Dutse Journal of Pure and Ap...· 0 citations
Abstract Globally, rice is a staple food, with a daily caloric intake of approximately 20%. The purpose of the present study was to identify the important morphological and quality parameters through genotypic and phenotypic association and path analysis in Oryza sativa L. The breeding material used in this experiment comprised 60 diverse genotypes obtained from the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The experiment was conducted using a Randomized Complete Block Design, with three replicates. Phenotypic data for the different morphological and quality traits were measured at maturity. The results of the analysis of variance showed that all parameters except a few showed significant differences among genotypes, indicating substantial genetic diversity. Correlation analysis revealed that most of the morphological and quality traits exhibited positive associations with each other, indicating that improvements in morphology and quality could be based on these positively associated traits. Path analysis showed that the amylose contents (AC), flag leaf length (FLL), grain length (GL), plant height (PH), number of grains per panicle (GP), grain width (GW), and panicle length (PL) exerted the most prominent positive direct effects yield, highlighting their importance as key selectin traits. In contrast traits traits such as thousand grain weight (TGW), flag leaf area (FLA), grain length into width ratio (L/W ratio), and number of total tillers per plant (TP) showed negative direct effect,Suggesting a complex relationship with yield. The results suggest that improving primarily morphological traits, particularly flag leaf length and width, and grain length, along with the key quality trait amylose contents, which are directly and indirectly linked with yield, could be effective and their selection will facilitate the development of high yield and high quality rice cultivars to meet future food demands.
Z. Ali, M. Naeem, I. Rafiq et al.· Brazilian Journal of Biology· 0 citations
Background: Pisum sativum L. is an important pulse crop with high nutritional content. However, its productivity is facing major challenge due to sodicity. So, the present investigation was carried out to identify the superior hybrids in field pea. Methods: Diallel design (excluding reciprocals) was done with ten parental lines to produce forty-five F1s and were tested for heterosis, combining ability and variability for yield and its related traits. Result: Analysis of variance revealed significant difference between parents and hybrids for all traits, with pod length showing higher significance in hybrids. The cross-Pant P 514 × HFP 1802 exhibited outstanding seed yield with positive and highly significant heterosis over better parent. SCA variance exceeded GCA variance for most of the traits, indicating non-additive gene action; HFP1424 and IPFD 21-5 were identified has a good general combiner, while several crosses showed high SCA effects. High GCV, PCV with high heritability and genetic advance suggest their importance for further programs breeding.
Aryan Raghuvanshi, Chinthalapalli Ajay Chandra, R. Hyndhavi et al.· Legume Research An Internati...· 0 citations
A study was undertaken with 20 genotypes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to evaluate 16 quantitative and qualitative traits and 2 biochemical traits to estimate the genetic variability between yield and its components at the Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi during 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. Among all genotypes, 596 were found promising for both yield and quality traits. Yield showed significant positive correlation with average fruit weight (28.99 g), pericarp thickness (0.37 cm), equatorial diameter of fruits (1.25 cm) and number of fruits (79.63). Formation of 5 clusters in dendrogram show the similarity among different traits. Genotype T-53 recorded the highest acidity (0.395 %) whereas genotype T-20 recorded the highest T.S.S. (8.2 0brix). Genotype 596 recorded the highest yield/1000 sq m (144.27 q)
P. K. Singh, R. Gautam, Zakir Hussain et al.· Progressive Horticulture· 0 citations