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Mean squares due to reciprocal effects were non-significant for tillers per plant, spike length, spikelets per spike, yield per spike and seeds index indicating the presence of reciprocal differences among the hybrids studied. The preponderance of additive genetic variation for five traits in F generation indicated that the parents involved in these crosses may be selected out on the basis of their GCA. The importance of additive and non-additive gene action for these quantitative traits in hexaploid wheat has also been reported by Larik et al. (1992) and Sharma and Singh (1986).

3. GCA effects of the parents

Estimates of GCA effects of the parents are shown in Table 6. It is evident that parents Z.A.77 and T.J. 83 were good general combiners for single plant yield and other yield components. 'Me parents Z.A.77 had significant GCA for all yield components and single plant yield. T.J.83 displayed similar results except plant height. The parents Mon's and Z.A.77 had significant effects for tallness and were good general combiner for this trait, while parents Blue Silver showed the highest GCA effects for dwarness and can be exploited for breeding dwarf genotypes. Parent Vee's was good general combiner for spike length and seeds per spike (
Table 6). It was observed that the significant GCA effects of the parents, Z.A.77 and T.J.83 for single plant yield were associated with the significant GCA effects for some of the yield components. Such positive association of GCA effects for yield components with GCA effects for single plant yield of spring wheat was also reported by Liu et al. (1989). This suggests that assessment on GCA effects for yield components has considerable importance in selecting parents for yield improvement.

4. SCA effects of the crosses

Estimates of SCA effects of the crosses (
Table 4) showed that there were a good number of crosses having significant and positive SCA effects for single plant yield. The crosses were P1 x P2, P2 x P4, P4 x P6, P5 x P6, P2 x P1, P3 x P1, P4 x P1, P5 x P1, P4 x P2 and P5 x P2. These crosses showed also significant and positive SCA effects for some of the yield components. Seeds per spike showed significant SCA effects in 12 out of 30 crosses. There were differences among the arrays of parents from SCA effects of the cross. When all the characters were considered, the arrays of Mon's, Vee's and Z.A.77 had maximum number of estimates of significant SCA effects.

The crosses with significant SCA effects indicate presence of non-additive (dominance and epistasis) gene action in them. The combining ability studies indicate the existence of both additive and non-additive gene actions in the present material. Additive gene action was more prominent for yield components, while non-additive gene action was strong for single plant yield. Therefore, breeding method should be designed to exploit both additive and non-additive gene actions. Diallel selective mating of Jensen (1970) has suggested usefulness of such situation. But the method involves many crosses among diverse parents and intermating in F1 populations, which makes it difficult for practical utilization. However, the crosses which have shown significant SCA effects for single plant yield may be used in the development of hybrid variety. Another possibility of these crosses is that the non-additive genes of the crosses would give wider transgressive segregation. Careful selection of the potential transgressive segregants through family selection would be worth while for yield improvement.

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