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In the present investigation, fifty four bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes were evaluated for estimation of thegenetic variability and its potential of each genotype under normal spring condition in Kabul Afghanistan in two yearsconsequently (2020 and 2021). Analysis of variance revealed that genotypes possess significant genetic variability amongall traits. For all the studied traits, mean squares showed the presence of significant variation among the genotypes. Highervalues of PCV and GCV indicated that there was high variability exiting among the genotypes. The higher values ofgenotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) were recorded for grain yield (GCV= 11.93% and PCV = 16.15%) followed by thousands grains (GCV=7.53% and PCV=8.15%). The highest heritability (0.94)was indicated in grain yield in the year 2021 followed by thousand grains (0.85) whereas the plant height (0.70) observedin (2020). The values of genetic advance were recorded low to moderate for all parameters. A highly significant positivecorrelation was observed among yield and harvest index and showed the significant difference for others except number ofeffective tiller per m2, on contrary the negative non-significant correlation was observed for effective tiller per m2 (-0.07).Grain yield with biological yield revealed a non-significant correlation (0.04), similarly days to heading revealed a nonsignificant negative correlation with grain yield (-0.05) respectively. From the study suggested that all the traits showingsignificant correlation with grain yield needs better attention for increasing yield in future wheat breeding programs.

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining combining ability and variances for different traits and toidentify the best combiners with respect to seed cotton yield and fiber quality. Forty eight F1 hybrids along with parentswere grown in randomized block design with three replications and the data were recorded for 14 characters namely,days to 1st flower, plant height, number of monopodial branch per plant, number of sympodial branch per plant, numberof bolls/plant, boll weight, seed index, ginning out turn lint index, seed cotton yield per plant, uniformity index, fibrestrength, upper half mean length and micronaire value. The variance gca/sca ratio depicted predominance of non-additivegene action for days to first flowering, number of bolls per plant, boll weight, seed index, seed cotton yield per plant,fibres strength, uniformity index, upper half mean length and micronaire value. The characters lint index and numberof monopods per plant revealed non-additive and additive gene action while plant height, number of sympods per plantand ginning out turn were predominantly controlled by additive gene action. The lines H1471, H 1472, H 1522 andH 1098i and the tester C 201 were found best combiners to be considered for future breeding programme. The crosscombination H 1480 × C 201 recorded highest significant SCA effects for seed cotton yield per plant followed byH1098i × C 211 and H 1522 × C210.

Isozyme markers are the oldest among molecular markers. Isozyme markers have been successfully used in several crop improvement programmes. Peroxidase (POX) isozyme has proven to be reliable genetic marker in breeding and genetic studies of Pearl millet. The present study was conducted to characterize 21 genotypes (7 hybrids, 6 female parents, 5 male parents and 3 open pollinated varieties (OPV) of Pearl millet by using POX isozyme. Five bands were found with Rm/Rf value ranges from 0.5 to 0.64. All bands were found to be polymorphic in nature except band with Rm value of 0.55 which was present in all genotypes. Intensity of bands varied with each genotype. Only 3 genotypes (H 77/29-2, HMS 7A and HHB 94) out of 21 genotypes were differentiated from other genotypes. Similarity indices based on POX banding pattern revealed that hybrid HHB 50, HHB 60, HHB 67 and HHB 146 completely resembled (SI 1.000) with their female parents MS 81A, MS 843A and ICMA 95222A. This showed the maximum contribution of female parent in comparison with male parent towards the development of hybrid. Key words: Peroxidase, characterization, banding pattern.