Heterobeltiosis and Combining Ability for Earliness in Okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus (L) Moench)

The presentjnvestigation was carried out to study heterosis and combining ability of six earliness related traits viz., node at which the first flower appears, days to first picking, plant height, internodal length, number of primary branches per plant and marketable yield per plant in okra with 12 parents and 66 F₁s during rainy season of 2004. Significant heterobeltiosis and economic heterosis was observed for all the traits and the magnitude of economic heterosis was higher than heterobeltiosis. Most of the cross combinations had significant heterobeltiosis out of 66; forty-five crosses had significant heterobeltiosis for marketable yield per plant. The analysis of variance for combining ability exhibited the significance of both gca and sea effects for all the characters indicating that both additive and non-additive gene effects involved in the inheritance of these characters. The parents HRB-107-4, S-2, NDO-10, PP, PA-4 and PB-1 were good general combiners for earliness and yield related traits. The cross combinations IIVR-11 X PA-4, HRB-107-4 x VRO-4 and PA-4 x NDO-10 recorded significant sca effects for yield and earliness related traits, thus suggesting the commercial exploitation of these hybrids by use of intermating in heterosis breeding.