Principles of Plant Breeding (2+1)

Composites

• It is produced by mixing seeds of phenotypically outstanding lines and encouraging open pollination to produce crosses in all possible combinations among mixed lines. The lines used to produce a composite are rarely tested for combining ability. So the yield of composite varieties cannot be predicted easily. Like synthetics, composites are commercial varieties and are maintained by open pollination.
• Composites were released in maize - Amber, Jawahar, Kissan.