This study was conducted to determine the combining ability and heritability
of rice grain yield, its components and some grain quality traits such as
amylose content (AC), gelatinization temperature (GT), gel consistency (GC)
and head rice recovery (HRR). The study was commenced by crossing the
selected rice varieties based on a full diallel mating design. The F1 was
harvested at the end of the season. In the following season, the crossed,
reciprocal and parental lines were planted in randomly complete block design
with three replications. Analysis of variance indicated that genotypes were
significantly different for all traits. The diallel analysis by Griffing`s
method showed highly significant differences for GCA for number of panicles
per plant (PN), amylose content, gelatinization temperature and head rice
recovery. Highly significant differences were also observed for both SCA and
REC for all evaluated characters. The results showed that the grain yield
(GY), number of filled grains (FGN), 100-grain weight (HGW) and GC were
controlled by non-additive gene action, while the inheritance of PN, AC, GT
and HRR were largely controlled by additive gene effects, although non-
additive genetic components and reciprocal effect were also involved, which
suggest that a selection process could be done in the early generations. The
two improved lines (RI18442-1 and RI18430-46) were found to be good general
combiners for GY and FGN, while the best combiners for PN was Tarom Mohali
and IR50 and for HGW was RI18430-46. The best combinations for GY were
RI18430-46 ? IR50, Tarom Mohali ? RI18447-2 and Daylamani ? RI18430-46. The
good hybrids were Tarom Mohali ? IR50, Line23 ? RI18447-2 and Line23 ?
Backcross line for AC. Narrow sense heritability showed that the GY and GC
had the lowest values while the other traits had either moderate or high
heritability, which indicates selection in the early generations could be
done to fix the favorable genes. In present study, narrow sense heritability
was high for AC and moderate for GT, PN and HRR.