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HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY FOR GRAIN YIELD AND OTHER AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN PEARL MILLET (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke)
Abstract:
Heterosis and combining ability for grain yield and other agronomic traits in 16 pearl millet hybrids were studied at Bengou and Maradi, Niger Republic, using the crosses obtained from two heterotic groups (Group A: Guerguera, HKB, HKP GMS, Souna3 and Group B: Ankoutess, Ex-Borno, Gamoji, Moro). The genetic populations were developed using factorial mating design. Two locations were used and the experiment was Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among genotypes for plant height, peduncle length, spike length, spike diameter, days to 50% flowering and grain yield. This indicated presence of considerable influence of environment on the genotypes. At Bengou location, the hybrid Guerguera x Ex-Borno produced the highest positive heterosis for plant height (3.79%), stem diameter (3.16%), peduncle diameter (10.08%) and grain yield (128.72%). Across locations, HKB showed maximum negative GCA value for days to 50% flowering; the result showed that the line could be used in improving early maturity. Ex-Borno exhibited the highest positive GCA effects for grain yield. Specific combining ability across locations indicated that seven crosses showed improved grain yield while ten crosses manifested earliness for days to 50% flowering. Path coefficient analysis reveals that plant height, number of tillers per plant and peduncle diameter were the three factors that exerted the greatest influence both directly and indirectly upon grain yield. The correlation between grain yield and plant height as well as the direct cause of plant height on grain yield indicate that when other variables are held constant, increasing plant height could directly increase grain yield. The result indicated that indirect selection through plant height and more tillering in pearl millet could be effective for high yielding. Thus hybrids can be used to overcome the problem of recurrent production deficit over environments. It was observed from the study that Guerguera x Ex-Borno could be recommended as a good hybrid across the test locations.
HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY FOR GRAIN YIELD AND OTHER AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN PEARL MILLET (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke)
