Studies on the extent of heterosis in the intervarietal crosses of Pigeonpea

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to obtain the information based on the extent of heterosis in the intervarietal crosses of Pigeonpea. The experiment took two crop seasons viz. Kharif 2014-15 and Kharif 2015-16. During the kharif season of 2014-2015, 12 parental lines i.e. 7 lines and 5 testers were sown in a Randomized Block Design (R.B.D.) with three replications to obtain data on eleven different traits for yield and yield attributes. Simultaneously Among the 35 crosses, six of the hybrids exhibited significant positive heterobeltiosis for green pod yield per plant. The maximum significant positive heterobeltiosis was recorded in the cross B1-141-1 x ICP7035 followed by the cross BRG2 x BRG3. It also manifested high significant heterobeltiosis and relative heterosis for the characters 100 seed weight, number of seeds/pods, number of pods/ plants, secondary branches and primary branches suggesting the possibility of utilizing F1 and further segregating generations in pigeonpea improvement programme.