Gene action and combining ability of erect and narrow leaves angles maize inbred lines.

Line (L)×tester (T) analysis is one of the breeding approaches to select inbred with good combining ability. Maize varieties with erect and narrow leaf angles can increase yield under high-density populations. This study used line x tester analysis to assess the combining ability and gene action from several S5 inbred lines of erect leaf idiotype and select high yield of LxT maize hybrids. The research evaluated 44 hybrids derived from crossing between 11 lines x 4 testers and four commercial maize as controls from February to May 2022 using the alpha lattice design with three replications. The results showed that the yield, yield components, plant height, leaf curve pattern, and leaf angle traits were controlled by additive genetics more than dominance genetics. The proportional contribution of lines, testers, and their interaction to the total variance showed that the line has great contributions for yield and plant height traits, while inbred testers have contributions for leaf orientation score and leaf angle traits. Therefore, the selection of inbred lines with good general combining ability (GCA) for yield trait and the tester inbred have good GCA for orientation score and leaf angle. Those inbreed have a great opportunity to become parents for developing high-yield hybrids with ideotype erect and narrow-angle leaves. The best hybrid was obtained from the L7 x T1 cross-test with a yield of 8.97 t/ha ha−1, significantly higher than commercial varieties. The hybrid also has a narrow leaf angle (16.09°) and a slightly erect leaf curve (score of 2.51). This hybrid can be evaluated further to be released as a high productivity hybrid maize variety with erect leaf and narrow leaf angles idiotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]