Identification of superior parental lines for seed quality and storability through GGE biplot analysis of line × tester data in grain sorghum

Abstract

Identification of superior parental lines and their hybrid
combinations for seed quality traits pave the way for
enhancement of crop stand and yield per se. A line × tester
analysis was carried out using GGE biplot to identify best
combiners for seed quality and storability in 6 A and 9 R
grain sorghum lines. ANOVA showed significant effects of
lines, testers and their interactions for all the traits. L2 (296A)
proved to be a poor combiner for all the traits both in fresh
(FS) and aged seeds (AS), while L1 (2219A) was the best
combiner for germination (G) and field emergence (FE) in
FS, and L6 (IMS 9A) for seedling vigour index (SVI) of FS.
‘Which-won-where’ analysis proved that L1 (2219A) gave
the best or near the best cross combination with all testers
for G-FS, G-AS, FE-FS and FE-AS. L6 (IMS 9A) combined
well with majority of testers for SVI-FS and SVI-AS. It was
observed that the SCA effect of lines which come out in
‘mean-versus-stability’ analysis may not necessarily
identify lines with SCA in favorable direction. Polygon view
gives a better visualization of the heterotic pattern. T6 (C43)
proved to be the best tester for G-FS and G-AS, and was
near ideal tester for all other traits except for SVI-FS. For
SVI-AS, T1 (CS 3541) proved to be better than T6 (C 43).
Among all testers T3 (RS 29) was relatively less informative
for being non-discriminatory or non-representative in most
of the cases.