Genetic Distance, Heterosis and Combing Ability Studies in Maize for Predicting F1 Hybrid Performance

Tools for yield prediction are requisite to any successful heterosis breeding program. With this objective present investigation was designed to work out the relationship between genetic diversity, heterosis and specific combining ability (SCA) and yield for predicting the potential F1 combinations in maize. A field experiment consisting of 10 inbreds of diverse origin and their 45 crosses was conducted for 3 years. Highly significant genotypic variance was observed by joint analysis of variance. It confirmed the sufficient amount of genetic diversity present in parental inbred lines. The estimates of genetic distance based on Euclidean distance matrix and canonical vector analysis showed that B1-12 and B1-15 and B1-12 and B1-34 are most diverse parent combinations. The correlation coefficient analysis showed that there is strong positive association between yield and heterosis and SCA. Genetic distance between parents was also positively correlated with yield and heterosis but weakly associated with magnitude of r = 0.1059 and r = 0.1104 respectively. However, association between genetic distance and SCA was significantly positive. The findings of this study revealed that higher SCA genetic diversity is important, whereas heterosis and SCA are effective for predicting the best F1 combinations in maize.