Estimation of Magnitude of Heterosis for Grain Yield and Related Traits in Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important oilseed crop which is native to India and cultivated in around 2.3 million ha across its several states. India stands way below in terms of productivity compared to several other countries across the globe. Being an often-cross pollinated crop, heterosis even in a marginal magnitude could be exploited in sesame in varietal development. Hence, the present study was performed with the objective of estimating the extent of relative heterosis, heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis in eight cross combinations for important yield attributing traits in sesame in order to select promising cross combinations for utilization in heterosis breeding and/or selection of superior segregants in segregating generations. Eight cross combinations derived out of crossing high yielding parents viz., TMV (Sv) 7 and VRI (Sv) 2 as female and E8, DSS 9, DS 5 and Prachi as male in L × T fashion were utilized for the analysis considering TMV (Sv) 7 as the Standard parent. The analysis showed significant differences between the genotypes for all the characters studied. The hybrids showed Relative/ Mid parental heterosis ranging from 2.02 to 26.05 per cent; heterobeltiosis from -4.55 to 15.85 per cent and standard heterosis from -11.27 to 15.85 per cent for grain yield /ha. Mid Parental Heterosis (RH) was found to be positive and significant for the characters no. of branches/plant, no. of capsules / plant, grain yield (kg/ha) in all the hybrid combinations except VRI (Sv) 2 / Prachi. Based on heterobeltiosis, the hybrids TMV (Sv) 7 / E 8, TMV (Sv) 7 / DSS 9, TMV (Sv) 7 / DS 5, VRI (Sv) 2 / DS 5 could be selected since they showed significant heterobeltiosis for important yield contributing characters viz., no. of branches / plant, no. of capsules /plant and grain yield. With respect to the Standard heterosis for grain yield and contributing characters like no. of branches/plant, no. of capsules/plant and grain yield/ha the hybrids viz., TMV (Sv) 7 / E 8, TMV (Sv) 7 / DS 5 and TMV (Sv) 7 / DSS 9 showed positive and significant heterosis. Considering all the three types of heterosis, the hybrids TMV (Sv) 7 / E 8, TMV (Sv) 7 / DS 5 and TMV (Sv) 7 / DSS 9 may be selected for yield enhancement in Sesame.