Combining ability analysis in lathyrus

The present study involved the evaluation of twenty-one F1 crosses derived from a line x tester analysis, employing three testers and seven lines. The objective was to assess the general and specific combining abilities of the parents and crosses respectively, while identifying superior combiner parents and crosses for subsequent generations. Multiple agronomic traits were assessed for each cross in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance revealed significant mean squares attributed to lines, testers, and their interactions for most traits. Both general and specific combining abilities played crucial roles across the evaluated traits. NLK-06, NLK-17 and Prateek emerged as promising general combiner parents, while crosses NLK-06 x Ratan, NLK-17 x NLK-40, and NLK-17 x Prateek exhibited notable performance in terms of yield plant-1 and number of pods plant-1. Selection criteria were based on combining ability and the potential of crosses for subsequent generations, prioritizing high mean performance, substantial general combining ability, and negative specific combining effects. Notably, NLK-06 x Prateek and NLK-17 x Ratan were identified as promising crosses for further investigation, offering a pathway to explore additive genetic variance through a simplified selection approach.