Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Background: Maize (Zea mays L.) is an essential food source for humans and cattle all over the globe. It has a great yield potential and leads the cereal industry in terms of both output and productivity. However, the nutritional quality of maize protein is regarded low, since typical maize "Zein" protein comprises on average approximately 2% lysine, which is less than half of the concentration necessary for human nutrition.

Methods: In Rabi 2018, a diallel mating set of 7 newly developed QPM inbred lines was used for crossing, and evaluation for combining ability for yield and its component traits was done in Kharif 2019 and Spring 2020 at the Field Experimentation Centre, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, SHUATS, Prayagraj (Allahabad).

Result: The analysis of variance due to general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) was significant for all characters except anthesis silking interval and canopy temperature deficit. The parent VL-1016556 was revealed to be a useful general combiner for grain yield and character attributes. P₁xP₂, P₁xP₃, P₁xP₆, and P₁xP₇ crosses all had significant SCA effects on grain yield per plant. These four crosses may be further utilized for the development of superior hybrids after confirming their consistency in Allahabad agro-climatic conditions.