Loading...
Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur
Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (renamed as Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya in June, 2001) was established on 1st November, 1978.The College of Agriculture (established in May, 1966) formed the nucleus of the new farm University. It is ICAR accredited and ISO 9001:2015 certified institution. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has ranked this University at eleventh place among all farm universities of the country.
The University has been given the mandate for making provision for imparting education in agriculture and other allied branches of learning, furthering the advancement of learning and prosecution of research and undertaking extension of such sciences, especially to the rural people of Himachal Pradesh.
Over the years, this University has contributed significantly in transforming the farm scenario of Himachal Pradesh. It has developed human resources, varieties and technologies and transferred these to farming community enabling the State to receive the “Krishikarman award” of Govt. of India four times in row for food grain production among small states of the country. Today, the State has earned its name for hill agricultural diversification and the farming community has imposed its faith in the University.
Browse
9 results
Search Results
ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON GENE ACTION FOR SEED YIELD AND ITS RELATED TRAITS IN URDBEAN [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper](CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2018-09-18) Patial, Ranjana; Mittal, R.K.The present investigation entitled “Studies on gene action for seed yield and its related traits in urdbean [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]” was carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Improvement, CSK HPKV, Palampur to gather information on genetic architecture for seed yield and component traits in urdbean. The experimental material comprised of 81 triple test cross progenies developed by mating 27 lines with three testers viz., HPBU-111 (L1), Him Mash-1(L2) and F1 of HPBU-111and Him Mash-1 (L3). These F1’s along with their parents were raised in randomized block design with three replications during Kharif 2017. Data were recorded and analysed for 12 agro-morphological traits. Sufficient variability was observed in the TTC progenies for all the traits studied. Epistasis was found to be an integral part of genetic variation for all of the traits under study. ‘i’ type epistatic interaction estimates were significant for days to 50% flowering, days to 75% maturity, branches per plant, pods per plant, seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant, harvest index and 100 seed weight. Whereas, ‘j+l’ type interaction was significant for all the traits. Both additive and dominant components were significant for all the traits; where additive and dominance components were of almost equal magnitude for pod length, seeds per pod and 100 seed weight indicating the importance of both additive and dominance type of gene action and additive component being more pronounced for rest of the traits indicating the relative importance of fixable type of gene action in their inheritance. Combining ability estimates showed significant genetic variance in lines for all traits whereas testers had significant genetic variance for nine traits. Lines IC-436910, IC-413306, IC-IC-398973 and IC-343885 were found to be good general combiners for most of the traits. Crosses IC-343885 x HPBU-111 (G x G), IC-436910 x HPBU-111 (G x G), IC-413306 x Him Mash-1 (G x P) and IC-343943 x HPBU-111(P x G) were potential crosses on the basis of SCA estimates, mid parent heterosis, better parent heterosis and standard heterosis for seed yield and most of the traits. With regards to the Comparison of ТГС and L x T, the former is advantageous in providing an unambiguous test for the presence of epistasis, while the latter provides additional information, particularly with regard to the gca and sca effects and variances, helping breeders in the choice of better parents. Hence, both these designs should be applied together in order to have concrete information about the genetic architecture of economic traits in any crop.ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON GENE ACTION FOR AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND FACTORS AFFECTING HAPLOID PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY FOLLOWING CHROMOSOMAL ELIMINATION TECHNIQUE IN OAT (Avena sativa L.)(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2018-05-26) Singh, Sanjeet; Sood, V.K.The present investigation entitled “Studies on gene action for agro-morphological traits and factors affecting haploid production efficiency following chromosomal elimination technique in oat (Avena sativa L.)” was carried out at the Forage Section and Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Improvement, CSK HPKV, Palampur to gather information on genetic architecture for forage yield and component traits and to generate euhaploid embryos following wide hybridization in oat. The experimental material comprised of 45 triple test-cross progenies derived by mating 15 lines and three testers viz., PLP 1(L1), HJ 8 (L2) and their F1 (L3) for gene action studies and eight genotypes for wide hybridisation in an attempt to obtain haploid embryos. The genetic material was evaluated for 13 agro-morphological traits in a randomised complete block design with three replications during rabi 2016-17. Sufficient variability was observed in the TTC progenies for all the traits studied. Epistasis was found to be integral part of genetic variation for all the traits. „i‟ type epistatic interaction estimates were significant for seven traits and „j+l‟ type interaction was significant for all the traits, although the magnitude of „i‟ type interaction was higher for days to 50% flowering, days to 75% maturity, plant height and protein content. Both additive and dominant components were significant for all the traits except for protein content, with additive component being more pronounced indicating the relative importance of fixable type of gene action in their inheritance. Comparison of the D and H components revealed that both were underestimated in line × tester approach, with the underestimation being comparatively more with respect to additive genetic variance (-99.31% to -100%) to dominance genetic variance (-72.19% to -96.39%). Combining ability estimates showed significant genetic variance in lines for all traits whereas testers had significant genetic variance for six traits. Lines RO 19, IG 03 205 and EC 528865 were overall good general combiner for most of the traits and potential parent sources for recombination breeding. SCA estimates showed cross-combinations viz., HFO 114 × PLP 1 (A × A), HFO 114 × HJ 8 (A × A), OS 6 × PLP 1 (P × G) and JPO 46 × HJ 8 (G × P) having highest values for green fodder yield per plant, harvest index and seed yield per plant. HFO 114 × HJ 8 (G × G) showed highest estimates for both SCA and standard heterosis for seed yield per plant, green fodder yield per plant and harvest index and IG 03 205 × PLP 1 (G × G) for protein content. For haploidy induction the natural temperature and photoperiod regime were found to be non-conducive for induction of haploid embryos in this experiment. Direct application of phytohormone combination of 2,4-D + GA3 with concentrations of 50 ppm each to the pistil of the top five florets gave highest percentage of caryopsis. The genotype of the pollen parent and the seed parent did not have any significant impact on the caryopsis development.ThesisItem Open Access HETEROTIC GROUPING OF QPM INBRED LINES AND QUALITY PROFILING BASED ON GENETIC AND MOLECULAR MARKERS(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2018-09-20) Thakur, Naresh; Lata, SwaranThe present investigation entitled “Heterotic grouping of QPM inbred lines and quality profiling based on genetic and molecular markers” was undertaken to study combining ability effects for yield and quality traits, understand the heterotic pattern and estimate the genetic relationship and diversity among QPM inbreds using molecular markers in quality protein maize. Ten QPM inbred lines were hybridized following Griffing‟s Method 2, Model 1 in a half diallel fashion. Experimental materials comprising of ten inbred lines, forty five single cross experimental hybrids, three hybrids along with two standard checks were evaluated in α-RBD with two replications during kharif 2016 (E1) and 2017 (E2) at Palampur (L1) and Akrot (L2). The analysis of variances indicated significant differences among genotypes for grain yield per plant and other component traits in all the environments. Also, significant differences for environment (E) and lines × environment interaction for most of the traits except cob girth indicated a definite role of environment on the performance of genotypes/crosses. Variances due to GCA, SCA and their interaction with environment were significant for most of the traits under Palampur and Akrot conditions, indicating the importance of testing parents as well as hybrids across environments. On the basis of per se performance, heterosis and combining ability for grain yield per plant and other component traits, the cross combination P1 × P7 at both the locations was found best, whereas P3 × P8 and P1 × P4 under Palampur conditions were found best. Parent P1 and P5 were the most promising general combiners for grain yield per plant and most of the yield component traits at both locations. For most of the traits, there was preponderance of non-additive gene action which reaffirms the importance of heterosis in maize. At molecular level, 28 SSR primers amplified 97 polymorphic alleles with an average of 3.46 alleles per primer. Size of amplified alleles ranged from 50 to 480 bp. Mean polymorphic information content was 0.28 showing low level of SSR polymorphism as the present investigation involved few closely related cultivars. Cluster analysis based on SSR data differentiated 48 maize genotypes into two major clusters. Assigning inbreds into different heterotic groups is fundamental for exploitation of heterosis for hybrid development. Heterotic grouping based on morphological trait and molecular markers grouped ten QPM inbred lines in to four heterotic groups. Results indicated that SSR markers effectively and efficiently assigned the inbred lines to heterotic groups for grain yield. This will help to establish maize inbred lines for the purpose of reducing the number of single crosses and their evaluation using the lines from the different heterotic groups. Overall, cross combination P1 × P7 with high heterosis and per se performance for yield was better than that of best check for grain yield per plant, and was found moderately resistant to banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB), turcicum leaf blight (TLB) and maydis leaf blight (MLB) over the environments and can be further exploited.ThesisItem Open Access GENE ACTION FOR YIELD AND RELATED TRAITS IN SOYBEAN [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] AND DEVELOPMENT OF INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDS INVOLVING WILD SPECIES(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2014-12) Bala, Indu; Dev, JaiABSTRACT The present investigation entitled Gene action for yield and related traits in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] and development of interspecific hybrids involving wild species was carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Improvement, CSK HPKV, Palampur to gather information on genetic architecture for seed yield and component traits in soybean and to introgress desirable genes from wild species to cultivated ones. The experimental material comprised of 54 triple test cross progenies derived by mating 18 lines with three testers, namely, Hara Soya (L1), Him Soya (L2) and their F1 (L3). This genetic material was evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications during kharif 2013. Epistasis was found to be an integral part of genetic variation for majority of the traits. Epistatic interaction for many traits was j+l type except days to 50% flowering, days to 75% maturity, reproductive phase, petiole length, seed per pod, harvest index and 100 seed weight, whereas plant height, internode length, pods per plant and biological yield per plant carried i type epistasis alongwith j+l type. Additive component (D) was more pronounced than dominance component (H) for most of the traits. Both additive and dominance components were of almost equal magnitude for pod length indicating the importance of both additive and dominance type of gene action, whereas partial degree of dominance was noticed for majority of traits. The kind of genetic variance revealed from triple test cross can be exploited by intermating selected individuals in early segregating generations with delayed selection in later generations, diallel selective mating/ biparental mating or recurrent selection followed by pedigree method to exploit both additive and non-additive components alongwith epistasis. Lines Bragg, Shivalik and P9-2-2 were found to be good general combiners for most of the traits. The cross combinations, Bragg x Hara Soya, PK472 x Him Soya, DS-1213 x Hara Soya, H-330 x Hara Soya and H-330 x Him soya showed high per se performance, SCA effects, heterobeltiosis and economic heterosis for seed yield per plant and were rated as potential crosses for further improvement. Cross H-330 x Him Soya showed resistance against brown spot and bacterial pustule diseases. The interspecific hybrids developed involving Glycine max x G. soja, were true to type based on confirmation at the morphological, molecular and cytological level. Sufficient variability was found for all the traits studied in wide hybrids. Seed yield per plant showed significantly positive correlation with reproductive phase, pods per plant, pod length, petiole length, harvest index and 100-seed weight.ThesisItem Open Access GENE ACTION FOR AGROMORPHOLOGICAL AND QUALITY TRAITS IN LINSEED (Linum usitatissimum L.)(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2015-08) Kumari, Arpna; Paul, SatishABSTRACT Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is an annual, self-pollinating, diploid (2n = 2x = 30) crop belonging to the Linaceae family with a genome size of ~ 370 Mb. Gene action for seed yield and its component traits in linseed were studied using triple test cross and line × tester analysis. The main objective was to determine the nature and magnitude of genic effects for different biometrical traits under variable environments that could support further improvements of linseed productivity using appropriate breeding methodology. The epistatic component of genetic variation detected in the present studies in the inheritance of all the yield and yield contributing traits except for plant height, technical height at Palampur (E1 ) and seeds per capsule in all the environments (E1 , E2 and E3 ). Mean squares due to sums (which indicate additive component) were highly significant for all characters studied except for seeds per capsule in all the environments (E1 , E2 and E3 ). The mean squares due to differences (which indicate dominance component) were also significant for all characters studied except for technical height at Palampur (E1 ) and days to 75 per cent maturity and seeds per capsule in all the environments (E1 , E2 and E3 ). The directional element (F) was non-significant (ambidirectional) for all the traits for which dominance component was significant in all the environments (E1 , E2 and E3 ) suggesting that the alleles with increasing and decreasing effects appear to be dominant and recessive to the same extent. Comparison of the two approaches has revealed that, in general the presence of dominance genetic variance alone with respect to seeds per capsule and additive genetic variance with respect to days to 75 per cent maturity in all the environments (E1 , E2 and E3 ) has been revealed by both triple test cross and line × tester analysis. The parents Giza7, Jeewan and Bhagsu were found to be the good general combiners for seed yield per plant and component traits at Palampur (E1 ) and pooled over the environments (E3 ). Further, evaluation of crosses based on combination of heterosis and SCA parameters would be more meaningful than on individual parameters. The common crosses based on both high heterotic response as well as high SCA effect in relation to GCA effects were Giza-7 × Surbhi, Lauro × Belinka60 and KL-236 × Belinka-60 for seed yield, Giza-7 × Surbhi and Lauro × Belinka-60 for fibre yield and Chambal × Belinka-60, Jeewan × Surbhi and T-397 × Belinka-60 for oil content in pooled over the environments (E3 ). Two genotypes Nagarkot, and Jeewan and four crosses Ariane × F1 , Giza-8 × Belinka-60, KL-244 × Belinka-60 and Nagarkot × Belinka-60 were found to be resistant to powdery mildew, rust and fusarium wilt diseases. The F2 population of the crosses between resistant and susceptible parents segregated in a ratio of 3R:1S, indicating the presence of a single dominant gene for resistance to powdery mildew in Nagarkot, Janaki and Jeewan. Information of genetic diversity and the relationship among different genotypes of linseed is of great importance for plant breeding and genetic resource management. Molecular analysis of 28 genotypes of linseed was carried out to determine the genetic relationship among them. The results suggest that primers used in this study were informative and 16 RAPD and 11 ISSR primers generated 4.5 and 5.27 fragments on an average. ISSR data revealed somewhat more clear relationships between studied genotypes and found more useful than RAPD marker data as besides more number of fragments, RAPD was unable to detect clear relationships between the genotypes. Thus ISSR markers were more informative than RAPD markers in revealing clear cut relationships of the genotypes. The results of present study indicate that the collection of 28 genotypes assessed here is having high diversity and also revealed the broad genetic base of analyzed genotypes.ThesisItem Open Access ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONGST WINTER × SPRING WHEAT AND TRITICALE × WHEAT DERIVED WHEAT DOUBLED HAPLOIDS USING MOLECULAR AND MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL MARKERS(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2017-07) Singh, Amaninder Deep; Chaudhary, H.K.ABSTRACT The present investigation was undertaken to assess the variability amongst wheat doubled haploids using various morpho-physiological traits and SSR markers, infer genetic relationship between the pedigree of the doubled haploids together with the potential bread wheat varieties and to identify the doubled haploids of bread wheat with targeted traits like yield, resistance to biotic (yellow rust and powdery mildew) and abiotic (drought) stresses. The experimental material comprised of 196 genotypes along with two checks viz., Him Palam Gehun-1(HPW-360) and Him Palam Gehun-2 (HPW-368) were evaluated for different morpho-physiological traits in Simple Lattice Design of 14x14 with two replications during rabi 2014-15. Sufficient genetic variability was observed for seed yield and its component traits suggesting the scope of selection for these traits. High PCV & GCV along with high heritability and high genetic advance were observed for seed yield per plant and harvest index indicating selection would be effective for these traits. Seed yield per plant showed significant and positive correlation with plant height, tillers per plant, grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, biological yield and harvest index. Also, biological yield per plant and harvest index were observed as best selection index for increasing seed yield per plant. Principal component analysis revealed 65.33 per cent variation which was elaborated by the first four significant principal components.D2 statistical analysis grouped genotypes into six clusters whereas molecular analysis delineated them into three clusters thereby revealing that the population structure was mainly based on genetic origin along with moderate to high gene flow. On the basis of mean performance, four genotypes viz., TWDH-6, HPW-236, HPW-147 and HS490 were found superior for seed yield and DH-47, DH-52, DH-85 and DH-87 expressed very strong resistance against yellow rust and powdery mildew diseases, whereas DH-40 and DH-100 appear to be promising for drought so, these genotypes need further multilocation evaluation over the years or can be utilized in future hybridization programme.ThesisItem Open Access MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF RUST RESISTANCE INTROGRESSED INTO Linum usitatissimum L. FROM ITS WILD AND CULTIVATED GENE POOL(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2016-11-09) KUMAR, NIMIT; Paul, SatishABSTRACT The research endeavour entitled ―Molecular characterization of rust resistance introgressed into Linum usitatissimum L. from its wild and cultivated gene pool‖ was executed in the Department of Crop Improvement, CSK HPKV, Palampur and Agricultural Research and Extension Centre (SAREC), Kangra during the years 2012-13 to 2016-17 with the objective to evaluate the crossability of different wild species with its cultivated species, transfer resistance against linseed rust, study the genetics of rust resistant gene(s), identify molecular markers linked to rust resistance gene(s) and nature and magnitude of gene effects for yield and its component traits. The experimental material comprised of six cultivated varieties of L. usitatissimum L. namely T-397, Chambal, Kangra Local, HimAlsi-1, Nagarkot & HimAlsi-2 and two wild species viz., L. angustifolium & L. grandiflorum. Interspecific hybridization revealed that L. angustifolium is crossable with cultivated varieties and has shown maximum crossability of 78.00 and 79.13 percent during 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively at the temperature range of 10.00 to 24.70°C. The highest seed formation efficiency was observed in cross HimAlsi-2 x L. angustifolium (52.00 and 49.05 percent during 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively ) at the temperature range of 5.91-22.43°C. The interspecific and intervarietal hybrids developed involving T-397 x L. angustifolium and T-397 x HimAlsi-1, were true to type based on confirmation at the morphological and molecular level. Inheritance of rust under natural epiphytotic conditions in T-397 x L. angustifolium and T-397 x HimAlsi-1 indicated the involvement of single dominant gene for disease resistance. Linkage analysis of the F2 mapping population revealed that the forward marker locus OPA 18 and reverse locus JA23 and rust resistance gene are located 5.8cM and 3.4cM apart, respectively for T-397 x L. angustifolium, whereas, in case of T-397 x HimAlsi-1 it was 1.9cM (OPA 18) and 3.3cM (JA 23) apart from the rust resistance gene. Further, evaluation of crosses using line × tester analysis in a randomized complete block design with three replications revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters studied. Both dominance and additive genetic variances were important for the traits but dominance was predominant as compared to additive variance. Line Chambal and tester HimAlsi-1 showed good general combining ability for eight characters. The cross combinations, T-397 x Nagarkot, HimAlsi- 2 x HimAlsi-1, HimAlsi-2 x L. angustifolium, T-397 x HimAlsi-1 and Chambal x Nagarkot showed high, SCA effects, heterobeltiosis and economic heterosis for seed yield per plant and were rated as potential crosses for further improvement.ThesisItem Open Access GENERATION MEAN ANALYSIS FOR POD YIELD AND HORTICULTURAL TRAITS IN GARDEN PEA (Pisum sativum L.)(CSKHPKV, Palampur, 2016-07-14) Kumari, Shiwani; Sharma, AkhileshABSTRACT The present investigation was carried out to estimate the genic effects and to detect the presence of non-allelic interactions along with linkage among interacting genes in three intervarietal crosses namely, „Palam Sumool × Punjab-89‟, „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟ and „Palam Sumool × Palam Priya‟ comprising of twelve generations. These twelve generations were evaluated in randomized complete block design with three replications during summer 2014 at Kukumseri for powdery mildew disease severity and during winter 2014-15 at Palampur for various yield and yield contributing traits. Majority of the crosses exhibited non-allelic interactions for majority of the traits in the respective three crosses. Adequacy of additive-dominance model indicating the absence of non-allelic interactions was observed for days to flowering in all the three crosses, pod length in „Palam Sumool × Punjab-89‟ and „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟, seeds per pod in „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟ and „Palam Sumool × Palam Priya‟ and total soluble solids in „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟. Genic effects revealed the presence of additive (d) gene effect in the desirable direction in „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟ and „Palam Sumool × Palam Priya‟ for days to flowering, „Palam Sumool × Punjab-89‟ and „Palam Sumool × Palam Priya‟ for pod length and „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟ for total soluble solids. Negative additive effects for seeds per pod and pods per plant and that of positive dominance effects for shelling percentage, pods per plant and pod yield per plant in one or the other crosses directed to delay selection in the later generations. In general, duplicate type of epistasis was observed for most of the traits such as plant height and protein content in all the three crosses, seeds per pod and total soluble solids in „Palam Sumool × Punjab-89‟, pod yield per plant in „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟ and „Palam Sumool × Palam Priya‟, ascorbic acid and powdery mildew disease severity in „Palam Sumool × Punjab-89‟ and „Palam Sumool × Palam Priya‟ and total sugars in „Palam Sumool × Punjab-89‟ and „Palam Sumool × Azad P-1‟. The significance of chi-square indicated the inadequacy of the digenic and trigenic interaction model in certain crosses for most of the traits and suggested the presence of linkage among interacting genes or still higher order interactions at several loci. Economic heterosis was observed for pods per plant and pod yield per plant along with appreciable economic residual heterosis. The type of gene effects along with presence of non-allelic interactions for majority of the traits in three crosses suggested the adoption of population improvement methods to break undesirable linkages through recombination. The other alternative can be to defer selection in the later generations by advancing segregating populations through bulk pedigree or SSD methods with one or two inter-matings like recurrent selection. Based on pod characteristics and powdery mildew disease severity, 203 single plant progenies were isolated over the generations of three crosses along with bulk seed following SSD and bulk method to isolate transgressive segregants.ThesisItem Open Access MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF RUST RESISTANCE INTROGRESSED INTO Linum usitatissimum L. FROM ITS WILD AND CULTIVATED GENE POOL(Department of Crop Improvement, College of Agriculture, CSK HPKV, Palampur, 2016-11) KUMAR, NIMIT; Paul, SatishABSTRACT The research endeavour entitled ―Molecular characterization of rust resistance introgressed into Linum usitatissimum L. from its wild and cultivated gene pool‖ was executed in the Department of Crop Improvement, CSK HPKV, Palampur and Agricultural Research and Extension Centre (SAREC), Kangra during the years 2012-13 to 2016-17 with the objective to evaluate the crossability of different wild species with its cultivated species, transfer resistance against linseed rust, study the genetics of rust resistant gene(s), identify molecular markers linked to rust resistance gene(s) and nature and magnitude of gene effects for yield and its component traits. The experimental material comprised of six cultivated varieties of L. usitatissimum L. namely T-397, Chambal, Kangra Local, HimAlsi-1, Nagarkot & HimAlsi-2 and two wild species viz., L. angustifolium & L. grandiflorum. Interspecific hybridization revealed that L. angustifolium is crossable with cultivated varieties and has shown maximum crossability of 78.00 and 79.13 percent during 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively at the temperature range of 10.00 to 24.70°C. The highest seed formation efficiency was observed in cross HimAlsi-2 x L. angustifolium (52.00 and 49.05 percent during 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively ) at the temperature range of 5.91-22.43°C. The interspecific and intervarietal hybrids developed involving T-397 x L. angustifolium and T-397 x HimAlsi-1, were true to type based on confirmation at the morphological and molecular level. Inheritance of rust under natural epiphytotic conditions in T-397 x L. angustifolium and T-397 x HimAlsi-1 indicated the involvement of single dominant gene for disease resistance. Linkage analysis of the F2 mapping population revealed that the forward marker locus OPA 18 and reverse locus JA23 and rust resistance gene are located 5.8cM and 3.4cM apart, respectively for T-397 x L. angustifolium, whereas, in case of T-397 x HimAlsi-1 it was 1.9cM (OPA 18) and 3.3cM (JA 23) apart from the rust resistance gene. Further, evaluation of crosses using line × tester analysis in a randomized complete block design with three replications revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters studied. Both dominance and additive genetic variances were important for the traits but dominance was predominant as compared to additive variance. Line Chambal and tester HimAlsi-1 showed good general combining ability for eight characters. The cross combinations, T-397 x Nagarkot, HimAlsi- 2 x HimAlsi-1, HimAlsi-2 x L. angustifolium, T-397 x HimAlsi-1 and Chambal x Nagarkot showed high, SCA effects, heterobeltiosis and economic heterosis for seed yield per plant and were rated as potential crosses for further improvement.