GENETIC ANALYSIS OF YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING TRAITS IN LINSEED (LINUM USITATISSIMUM L.)
NIMIT KUMAR* AND SATISH PAUL
Department of Crop Improvement, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176062, India
*Corresponding Author Email - nk.kakran@gmail.com
Running Title: Genetic analysis of linseed traits
Keywords: Heritability, Hybrids, Linseed, Standard heterosis ABSTRACT
Twelve hybrids of linseed generated by crossing of 4 lines and 3 testers in line × tester mating design were sown along with their seven parental lines to assess the extent of standard heterosis over standard check i.e. Nagarkot for yield and eleven component traits. Dominance genetic variance varied from 0.36 (straw yield per plant) to 315.13 (seed…show more content… It belongs to the family Linaceae and is presumed to be originated in southwest Asia particularly in India (Vavilov, 1935; Richharia, 1962). The Genus Linum comprises about 290 species (Gill, 1987) of which only Linum usitatissimum, L is of economic importance. It has somatic chromosome number 2n = 30 and varies from 16 to 86 in other species. Two morphologically distinct cultivated species of linseed are recognised, namely Flax and Linseed. The flax types are commercially grown for the extraction of fibres, whereas the linseed is meant for the extraction of oil from seeds. The linseed oil is rich in fatty acids alpha linolenic acid (ALA) an essential Omega-3 fatty acid and lignin oligomers accounting for 57 % of total fatty acids in its biochemical composition (Reddy et al. 2013) Across the world it covers 2270.35 thousand hectare area with production of 2238.94 thousand tons having productivity of 986.16 kg per hectare, where as in India it covers 338 thousand hectares area and a production of 147 thousand tons with the productivity of 434.91 kg per hectare, (Anonymous, 2013). The average productivity is very low as compared to other countries where it is grown. Hence, there is an urgent need to increase the productivity by breaking the present yield barrier and developing hybrids with high yield potential (Ramesh et al., 2013 and Jhajharia et al.,…show more content… The phenomenon of heterosis has proved to be the most important genetic tool in boosting the yield of self as well as cross pollinated crops and is recognized as the most important breakthrough in field of crop improvement. The best hybrids for yield and related traits can be achieved by evaluating the promising diverse lines and their cross combinations. (Singh et al., 2006). The study on the magnitude of heterosis would help in identifying promising cross combinations for exploitation of heterosis for genetic improvement of quantitative traits and genetic information on heterosis is useful for developing breeding strategies to meet the demands of increased population. It is necessary to have detailed information about the desirable parental combination in any breeding program which can reflect a high degree of heterotic response. It has become a common practice of the plant breeder working with crop plants to obtain genetic information from line x tester technique developed by Kempthorne (1957). Therefore, heterotic studies can provide the basis for the exploitation of valuable hybrid combinations in future breeding programs as earlier reported by Pali and Mehta (2014), Reddy et al. (2013), Ratnaparkhi et al. (2005), Sharma et al. (2005), Saraswat et al. (1993), Foster et al. (1998) and Rede (1999). The present investigation was undertaken with an objective to measure