Journal of Experimental Agriculture International

The selection of appropriate parental lines for hybridization plays a crucial role in crop improvement programs, as the performance of the resulting hybrids can provide insights into their relative superiority. Hence, in any breeding program, the appropriate selection of parents based on their combining ability is essential. An attempt was made to study the general and specific combining ability in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) through line x tester mating design. The four lines and seven testers were mated in line x tester fashion in Kharif 2024 and an evaluation study was conducted during Rabi 2024–25 at the Experimental Farm, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Latur. Observations were recorded on randomly selected five plants in each row entry for all ten characters viz., days to 50 % flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of branches per plant, number of capsule per plant, number of seeds per capsule, length of capsule (cm), 1000 seed weight (g), seed yield per plant (g) and oil content (%). Among lines, no one exhibited a significant effect of GCA for all traits, but line TBS-10 showed a significant effect for five characters viz., days to 50% flowering, number of branches per plant, number of capsules per plant, seed yield per plant and oil content in the desired direction. In case of testers, R-22 revealed significant GCA effect for six characters viz., plant height, number of capsule per plant, number of seeds per capsule, 1000 seed weight, seed yield per plant and oil content. For seed yield per plant, cross, TBA-10 x V-22 exhibited the highest (2.57) significant SCA effect, with TBS-07 x TS-24 (2.13), TBS-09 x TS-24 (0.97) and TBS 02 x TKG-22 (0.90) ranking next. Overall, the findings provide valuable insight for formulating efficient breeding strategies in sesame, combining both selection and hybridization approaches to achieve genetic improvement.