Line X Tester Studies in Flue-Cured Virginia Tobacco

Abstract

The combining ability and gene effects for developmental and agronomic traits of FCV tobacco were studied using 12 fertile cultivars, two male-sterile lines and their 24 hybrids. The general combining ability (GCA) variance component of the male parents was significant for leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf thickness, bright leaf yield, TBLE and leaf curl disease incidence. The GCA variance of the female parents was significant for the number of suckers, leaf breadth and tobacco mosaic virus disease incidence. The specific combining ability (SCA) variance was significant only for sucker weight. Non-additive gene effects were primarily involved in the inheritance of internode length, sucker weight, leaf area and chloride content, whereas both additive and non-additive effects governed the expression of the number of suckers, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf thickness, bright leaf yield and TBLE. Tobacco mosaic virus and leaf curl disease incidence were governed predominantly by additive gene effects.