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Six parents of Brassica rapa (L) viz. SAU Sarisha-1, SAU Sarisha-2, SAU Sarisha-3, BARI Sarisha-6, BARI Sarisha-15, and Tori-7 were crossed in a half diallel fashion. The resultant fifteen hybrids along with six parents were evaluated in randomized complete block design with three replications with the aim of evaluating the performance of hybrids over their parents. The study was conducted at the Research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh during Rabi 2010-2011. Results indicated that, all the parameters except 1000-seed weight and seed yield/plant were significantly differed among the parents indicated existing variation in the parents. The best

Fifteen hybrids along with six parents were tested to identify good combiners through analyzing combining ability and gene action for yield and its attributes. The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications during 2010/11 at research farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka. Data for days to 50% flowering and 80% maturity, plant height, number of primary and secondary branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod length, seed yield and 1000-seed weight was recorded for analysis.The results showed that mean squares for parents, hybrids, parent vs hybrid were significantly different (p<0.01 or p<0.05) for most of the traits. Highly significant mean squares due to general combining ability (GCA) were found for all the traits except for length of pod, whereas highly significant mean squares due to specific combining ability (SCA) were also found for days to 50% flowering, number of secondary branches per plant, number of pods per plant, length of pod and seed yield per plant. This indicated that both additive and non-additive gene effects were important but additive gene effects were predominant for the expression of most of the measured traits. Estimates of GCA and SCA effects for yield and its attributes suggested that parent BARI Sarisha-6, BARI Sarisha-15 and Tori-7 was good combiners for different traits. Hayman’s graphical analysis indicated both over- and partial-dominance for growth and yield attributes. As dominant (non-fixable) variation was high for most of the attributes, substantial improvements of these traits may be possible by transferring complementary gene into non-epistatic high-dominance crosses or eliminating duplicate genes from high-dominance crosses. Considering GCA, SCA and per se performance BARI Sarisha-6, BARI Sarisha-15 and Tori-7 might be good parents towards an effective breeding programme.

Grain legumes are important for food security and nutritional value. They produce protein and protein rich foods for millions of people around the globe. They currently play a central role in sustainable agricultural production system by adding nitrogen nutrient to the soil for the subsequent crops largely through symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria. This sustainable provision of nitrogen fertilizer allows reducing the fertilization cost in cropping system and greenhouse gas emission. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is one of the most important grain legumes which produce higher amount of seed protein and provides solution for protein deficiency and protein choices. It is also a good source of plant-based protein and has high nutritional value for human and animal consumption. With the increasing demand of plant-based protein, increasing pea seed yield and seed protein content (SPC) are the most important breeding targets today. Therefore, it is needed to elucidate the existing literature regarding genetics of pea. Here we review the existing potential quantitative and qualitative genetics underlying SPC and yield attributes in pea, currently used methods in pea breeding, and future direction for sustainable production.