Combining ability for yield and yield attributing characters in rabi mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek.]

Seven genotypically diverse lines of mungbean were crossed in diallele fashion to identify genotypes with high general combining ability and specific cross combinations with high specific combining ability for yield and yield attributes in rabi season excluding reciprocals. The analysis for combining ability revealed significant mean sum of squares due to general and specific combining ability for all the characters studied indicating importance of both additive as well as non-additive gene effects involved in the expression of all the characters. Higher magnitude of general combining ability variances for most of the traits except for number of branches per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod and harvest index pointed out the preponderance of additive component of the genetic variance in the expression of the characters under study. The good general combiners for yield attributing traits were Co-4, GBM-1 and Meha and the best specific cross combinations having the highest SCA effect for yield and yield attributing traits were Co-4 x Meha, Co-4 x GBM-1, Rm-9-126 x Rm-9- 134, GBM-1 x Meha and Rm-9-133 x GBM-1. This cross combinations could be utilized for further breeding programmes for the development of rabi mungbean varieties with chilling tolerant ability or photo-thermo insensitivity, so as to exploit potential of rabi mungbean in rice fallows of heavy rainfall zone.