Heterosis studies for juice yield and its contributing traits in sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]

An investigation was carried out to assess the extent of heterosis for juice yield and its attributing traits in 72 hybrids of sweet sorghum developed by crossing four lines with 18 testers in line × tester mating design during kharlf 2008 at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, G. K. V. K., Bengaluru. The mean sum of squares of parents vs. hybrids was significant for cane weight and juice extraction per cent, indicating presence of heterosis for these traits. None of the crosses was superior for all the traits studied. However, the cross ICSA 102 × E 36-1 was the best as it had highest mean performance for economically important characters like cane weight, juice volume and juice yield. Majority of the crosses exhibited significant better parent heterosis for days to 50% flowering, stem girth, nodes per plant, cane height, cane weight, mean internodal length, juice volume, juice extraction per cent and juice yield indicating predominance of non-additive gene action in the genetic control of these traits. Most of the hybrids expressed significant standard heterosis for all the characters over the check NTJ 2.