Evaluation of Combining Abilities for Traits Improvement in Chrysanthemum

Background: In the case of chrysanthemums, a commercially important ornamental plant, understanding of combining ability can significantly improve breeding efficiency, allowing for the development of new cultivars with desired traits such as better flower quality, longer shelf life, disease resistance and adaptability to different environmental conditions. Combining ability is a powerful tool in chrysanthemum breeding, enabling breeders to make informed decisions about which parent plants to use for creating hybrids with desired traits. By focusing on GCA and SCA, breeders can enhance traits like flower size, color, disease resistance and environmental adaptability, leading to the development of superior chrysanthemum varieties for both ornamental and commercial purposes. An experiment was carried out in the research plot of Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, OUAT, Bhubaneswar Odisha to study the combining ability effects in chrysanthemum. Methods: Eight varieties of chrysanthemum were crossed using half-diallel mating design (excluding reciprocals). After crossing, 28 number of hybrids were produced which were studied for combining ability. Result: Shova and SS were reported to be the best general combiners for flower yield attributes, while the hybrids Shova x Arka Kirti, Shova x UHFS-56, SS x A.Kirti , Shova x ACC-1, Shova x SS were found to have significant desirable SCA effects for number of flowers per plant.