Efficiency of circulant diallels as compared to complete diallels for the estimation of combining ability

Abstract

The efficiency of circulant and complete diallels was compared regarding the estimation of the general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining ability. Maize population ear yield data from a 28 x 28 diallel were used. The circulant diallels were formed by resampling data from the complete diallel. Each circulant diallel was represented by s crosses per parent, and s by an odd number between 3 and 25. A thousand circulant diallels were generated for each s value. Estimators for genetic parameters were defined to study the diallels’ efficiency. GCA and SCA estimates from the circulant diallels were close to those from the complete diallel, except for a few of the parents (s=3). Best results in terms of selecting parents and hybrid combinations were obtained with s=19. The feasibility of using circulant diallels depends on the genetic background of the populations as well as on the goals of the breeding program.