Studies on heterosis and combining ability in rice (Oryza sativa L.) for morpho-physiological traits under normal and saline conditions

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of 54 F1 developed by crossing of 18 lines with 3 testers. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant difference in treatments, parents, crosses and line × tester for days to 50% flowering, plant height, flag leaf area and grain yield per plant under both normal and saline conditions. Parent vs. crosses were highly significant for plant height and grain yield per plant while significant for days to 50% flowering and flag leaf area in normal condition but in case of saline condition highly significant differences were found for plant height and flag leaf area and non-significant for days to 50% flowering and grain yield per plant.