Heterosis and combining ability among promising single-cross hybrids in Lilium formolongi Hort. for major growth and flowering traits

An investigation was conducted to determine the combined ability and gene action of four diverse single-cross F1s for significant growth and flowering traits. The performance of all 16 genotypes (4 parent SCF1s, 6 DCF1s, and 6 reciprocal DCF1s) was evaluated by maintaining three replications in a randomized complete block design. This significant genetic variability is a key point of interest, as it paves the way for further exploration and understanding of the inheritance of these traits. Highly significant general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combing ability for all evaluated quantitative traits indicated the vital role of additive and non-additive components in the inheritance of the studied traits. The GCA/SCA was more than unity (1), indicating the more significant role of additive than non-additive effects for all the evaluated quantitative traits. Furthermore, almost all studied quantitative traits besides leaf length were highly significant for sources of variation, indicating reciprocal effects on studied characters. Parent 1, 45.1 (AF × Ad), was found to be a good combiner for plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf width, number of flowers, and attitude of the floral axis. Among the six DCF1s, cross (2 × 4), 68.3 (H × W) × (WT × AugE)-9, demonstrated superior performance, representing significant SCA effects in a positive direction for the plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, number of flowers, bud length, and attitude of the floral axis. Among the six reciprocal DCF1s, cross (4 × 2) (WT × AugE)-9 × 68.3 (H × W) demonstrated superior reciprocal effects exhibiting significant SCA effects in the positive direction for stem diameter, leaf width, number of flowers, days to flowering, bud length, and attitude of the floral axis. Since the reciprocal effect was found to be significant for plant height, number of leaves, number of flowers, bud length, and attitude of the floral axis for cross (2 × 3), 68.3 (H × W) × (J × G)-6, its reciprocal cross (3 × 2) (J × G)-6 × 68.3 (H × W) could be selected for the mother line.