Grain Iron, Zinc and Yield Genetics in Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. R. Br.)

The Line × Tester analysis involving 4 testers (females) and 7 lines (males) of pearl millet was carried out to identify crosses and good combiners for developing new hybrids to achieve high grain yield per plant. The variance due to GCA and SCA showed that the non-additive components were pre-dominant for the expression of days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of effective tillers per plant (no.), dry fodder yield per plant (g), grain yield per plant (g) and Fe content (ppm) Whereas, additive components were predominant for the expression of ear head length (cm), ear head diameter (cm), dry fodder yield (g), test weight (g), harvest index and Zn content (ppm). Among the female parents ICMA1 10222 and JMSA5 20171 were identified as good general combiner for grain yield per plant and some other component traits. Among the male parents 128-SB-17, 160-SB-17 and 153-SB-17 were good general combiner for most of the characters. Among the 28 hybrids, two crosses (JMSA5 20171 × 153-SB-17 and ICMA1 12444 × 118-SB-17) were identified as good specific combiners based on significant and positive sca effect for grain yield per plant.