Combining Ability Analysis for Grain Yield and Its Attributing Traits in Barley

Combining ability analysis for grain yield and its attributing traits were conducted from 8 × 8 diallel cross in barley. GCA and SCA variance were found highly significant for all the traits. Four parents JB1, PL751, JB58 and RD2787 were found to be good combiners for most of the characters and can be used in the future breeding program. Cross combinations JB × HUB208, JB58 × HUB208, JB1 × Bh933 and JB1 × JB58 exhibited high significant positive SCA effect for most of the traits, and identified as superior crosses. There is a need to test the performance of promising plants in advance generation to confirm their superiority. Suggested that to exploit non-additive gene action, one or two cycles of inter-mating or some form of population improvement schemes may be employed in later generation.