Hanin Alkasser1*, Mohammad Jamal Hamandoush1, Ahmad Shams Alden Shaaban1 and Abdullah Alyoussef2
1 Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria.
2 Aleppo Research Center, General Commission for Agricultural Scientific Research, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Hanin Alkasser, Email: haninalkaseer92@gmail.com)
Received: 23/01 /2026 Accepted: 2/ 08/ 2026
Abstract:
The study was conducted during the 2020–2024 seasons at the Hamimah (Aleppo) and Al-Karim (Salamiyah) stations, affiliated with the General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), across two sites: rainfed and irrigated. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications was used to evaluate heterosis, general combining ability (GCA), and specific combining ability (SCA) for phenological traits in grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). The plant material included seven parental lines and 21 hybrids resulting from a half-diallel crossing. At the rainfed site: The hybrid G4×G7 was the earliest (85.5 days), while the hybrids G2×G3 and G2×G5 exhibited negative heterosis (−1.15) for days to flowering, based on the better-parent (BP) heterosis. The parent G3 was distinguished by a high positive GCA for earliness of flowering, whereas the hybrid G6×G7 recorded a high SCA. For days to physiological maturity, the hybrid G3×G4 was the earliest maturing (111.5 days) and showed significant negative heterosis. The parent G1 exhibited a high GCA, and the hybrids G1×G5 and G3×G5 displayed high SCA, with an expectation of trait stability in subsequent generations. At the irrigated site: The hybrid G1×G4 was the earliest (88.5 days) and was the only hybrid that recorded a negative heterosis value for days to flowering, with parent G1 exhibiting a high GCA but no promising hybrids identified. For days to physiological maturity, the three hybrids G1×G3, G1×G5, and G2×G6 were the earliest (116 days). The hybrid G1×G3 showed negative heterosis based on both better-parent (BP) and mid-parent (MP) values, while G2×G6 showed negative heterosis based on mid-parent only. Parent G1 possessed a high GCA, and the hybrid G1×G6 exhibited a high SCA, with an expectation of trait stability in future generations.
Keywords: hybrid vigor, general combining ability, specific combining ability, genotypes, hybrid, grass pea.
Full paper in Arabic: PDF