Combining ability and heritability of selected rice varieties for grain quality traits

This study was conducted to determine the combining ability and heritability of rice grain quality traits. Some grain quality traits such as grain length, grain width, milled grain length, milled grain width, length to width ratio, milled rice recovery, head rice recovery, amylose and gel consistency were analyzed using a full diallel mating design in Malaysian rice varieties. This study was commenced by crossing the selected rice varieties based on a full diallel mating design. The F1 was harvested at the end of the season. In the following season, the crossed, reciprocal and parental lines were planted in randomly complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance indicated that genotypes were significantly different for all traits evaluated except for milled rice recovery. Mean square values for general combining ability were significant for the evaluated grain quality traits which indicated the importance of additive gene effects in inheritance of these traits. The specific combining ability effects were significant for several populations derived from crosses involving MR 263, MR 267, MRQ 74, Q 85 and MRQ 76. Reciprocal effects were significant for eight combinations for grain quality traits. Broad sense heritability showed that the AMYL and GC had the lowest value. The GL showed moderate value while GW, MGL, MGW, LW and HRR were the highest. The narrow sense heritability for grain physical properties was higher than grain chemical properties. The highest heritability was observed for LW, MGL, HRR, MGW, GW and GL.