Abstract

General and specific combining ability variances and effects for seven fodder characters were studied in, bajra-napier interspecific hybrids obtained in line x tester programme involving 9 CMS lines of bajra as female and 6 genotypes of napier grass, as male. The mean squares due to general and specific combining ability were significant indicating the importance of both additive and dominance components. The magnitude of sca variances was greater than that of gca for all characters suggesting the predominance of non-additive gene action. The parents, 405 A, 306 A, and 732 A among the CMS lines of bajra and FD 466 and FD 435 among napier grass were identified as best general combiners. The crosses 306 A x FD 466, 306 Ax FD 435, 437 were the best specific combinations for forage yield. High heterosis observed for different forage yield characters was mostly due to the desirable sca effects.

Keywords: Bajra, Napier Grass, Inter-Specific Hybrids, Heterosis, Combining Ability