Summary
The relationships between the estimates of general (σ2g) and specific (σ2s) combining abilities obtained from the four methods of diallel analysis described by Griffing (1956) and estimates of DR and HR, the additive and dominance components of variability, are compared both theoretically and experimentally for model II situations. Theoretically they are compared by deriving the expectations of the variance components for the general and specific combining abilities for each method in terms of the genetical parameters and Experimentally they are compared by extracting data from a diallel set of crosses between a random sample of 29F9 families derived from the F2 of the cross of varieties 1 and 5 of Nicottana rustica by pedigree inbreeding.
The theoretical results show and the experimental results confirm that the genetical expectations of σ2g and σ2s for method 1 are identical with the general definitions of ¼DR and ¼HR. This method, therefore, gives consistent estimates of DR and HR in all situations. In contrast, methods 2, 3 arid 4 give close approximations to ¼DR and ¼HR only when estimates from diallels involve large numbers of parents.
The limitations of diallel analysis as a source of estimates of genetically defined as opposed to statistically defined parameters are discussed.
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Pooni, H., Jinks, J. & Singh, R. Methods of analysis and the estimation of the genetic parameters from a diallel set of crosses. Heredity 52, 243–253 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1984.26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1984.26
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