EXPLORING COMBINING ABILITY AND GENE ACTION FOR SEED YIELD AND ITS COMPONENT TRAITS IN PEARL MILLET (PENNISETUM GLAUCUM (L.) R. BR.)

Millets, the earliest cultivated food crops, are crucial for nutrition and food security.Among millets, pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.], a staple in arid regions, is valued for its resilience and nutritional content, including high protein and carbohydrates.A field study was conducted in kharif 2023 at RRS, AAU, Anand, and evaluated 16 parental lines (Seven lines and nine testers) and their 63 hybrids using a randomized complete block design.Statistical analysis revealed significant variance in combining ability for traits like days to flowering, plant height and grain yield per plant, highlighting both additive and non-additive genetic variances.Among the hybrids, 33 showed significant specific combining ability (SCA) for grain yield per plant, with ICMA 05444 ICMR 17276 exhibiting the highest SCA effect.The study identified key parents with strong general combining abilities (GCA) for various traits, suggesting their potential to breed high-yielding and robust cultivars.The results underscore the importance of both GCA and SCA in selecting parents and hybrids for breeding programmes to improve pearl millet yield and quality