Abstract
Mean squares obtained from combining ability analysis showed that gca, sea and reciprocal effects were significant for height of the main stem, number of monopodia! and sympodial branches. The relative contribution of each of the components towards total variance indicated the presence of additive genetic effects in the genetic control of height of the main stem, whilst genetic expression of monopodial and sympodial branches were revealed to be influenced by the genes acting non-additively, The two lines, PO/695-F6 and E 288 proved to be the best general combiners for the three characters and their combination PO/695-FG X E288 showed superiority for all the traits.
