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Breeding for improved leaf yield and studies on combining ability in mulberry

Mulberry is cultivated for its leaves to rear mulberry silkworms and silk productivity determines the profitability in sericulture. In the present study, forty two crosses were generated by crossing six females with seven male parents in Line × test mating design. Segregating hybrid progenies of ten crosses were evaluated for leaf yield and its components for understanding combining ability and gene action in mulberry. The gca and sca effects were highly significant for all the traits studied indicating the importance of additive and non-additive genetic components. The ratio of gca and sca variance was less than unity indicating preponderance of non-additive genetic variance and suggests the good prospects of exploiting variation through heterosis breeding. Bishnupur-10, Kajli OPH, C-776 and CF1-10 were identified as good general combiners and can be utilized for generating desirable recombinants for further selection. Out of 42 crosses, nineteen exhibited significant positive sca effects for yield and could be used for selection of superior hybrid progenies. Nineteen genotypes recorded significantly higher leaf yield (482-501 g/plant/crop) along with better quality over the check variety S1635 (324 g/plant). These progenies need to be evaluated further following systematic procedures laid down for mulberry for identify promising high yielding varieties.