Heterosis and inbreeding depression for yield and yield components in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

The results of the experiment on the magnitude of heterosis and inbreeding depression in 38 genotypes (15 F₁s, their 15 F₂s and 8 parents) for yield and its attributes revealed highly significant variations for all the genotypes and for all the characters studied. Two hybrids for earliness and four hybrids for short stature exhibited significant negative standard heterosis, while four hybrids for number of capitula per plant, seven hybrids for number of seeds per capitulum, five hybrids for test weight and three hybrids for seed yield exhibited significant positive standard heterosis. There was positive inbreeding depression in F₂ generation for all the characters in majority of the hybrids. There was non significant heterosis and inbreeding depression for oil content in F1 and F2 generations respectively.