Study on Combining Ability and Gene Action in Pigeonpea (Cajanas cajan (L.) Millsp.) For Grain Yield and Quality Traits in Humid South Eastern Plain Climate Zone

Twenty-eight hybrids developed by utilizing eight parents in 8 x 8 diallel mating design excluding reciprocals were evaluated in randomized block design (Agriculture University, Kota during, 2023-24) for thirteen characters in order to understand the combining ability and gene action in pigeonpea.The analysis of variance for combining ability revealed presence of non-additive gene action.The ratio of gca/sca variance was less than unity which indicated the preponderance of non-additive gene action for action.The estimates of general combining ability suggested that parents were good general combiners for seed yield per plant and attributing ICPL-20338, ICPL-20340 and Pusa-992 characters while, hybrids ICPL-20338 x ICPL-20340, ICPL-20338 x AL-882, ICPL-20340 x AL-882 and Pusa-992 x PA-16 showed the higher order sca effect for seed yield per plant.These cross combinations can be potentially utilized in hybrid breeding programmes.