Combining Ability of Origanum majorana L. Strains–Agronomical Traits and Essential Oil Content: Results of the Field Experiment Series in 1999

SUMMARY A combining ability test of 4 cms and 8 pollinator marjoram lines was carried out by a field experiment series on 3 locations to explore the feasibility of a marjoram hybrid variety system. Most traits revealed both–negative and positive–general and specific combining effects depending on the parent components and on the traits. Due to good combining ability high performance hybrids occurred in particular for the essential oil content. In further experiments improved hybrid effects can be expected using more different and homogeneous genotypes.