Present investigation was carried out to study combining ability along with inheritance of grain yield and its component traits in 50 hybrids of pearl millet which were generated through line x tester mating design using 5 male sterile lines and 10 restorers as parental material at ICRISAT, Hyderabad during Summer, 2018. These hybrids were evaluated in randomized block design with 3 replications in 3 environments during Kharif, 2018 at Agricultural Research Station, Bikaner. In results, both GCA and SCA variances were found significant for majority of characters. The ratio of GCA and SCA variance indicated the predominance of non-additive gene action for all the characters studied. GCA effects revealed that parents like ICMA 843-22, RMS 7A (female), BIB-423, BIB-343, BIB-451 and BIB-407 (male) were good general combiners for grain yield and some contributing characters. On the basis of SCA effects the crosses namely RMS 7A x BIB-407, ICMA 843-22 x BIB-343, ICMA 843-22 x BIB-451, ICMA 88004 x BIB-423 and ICMA 93333 x BIB-439 were identified as superior for seed yield and related traits over the environments. Therefore these parents and hybrids are recommended for utilization in development of promising hybrids as well as their use in population improvement. | Combining ability and gene action studies in pearl millet using line X tester analysis under arid conditions
