Heterosis for yield and its components in sesame [Sesamum indicum L.] over environments

A set of diallel crosses involving 9 parents was made in sesame to measure the extent of heterosis over better parent and standard heterosis for yield and yield contributing characters under four different environments. The results showed that AT 238 × GT 1 (90.70%), AT 255 × Nesadi Selection (82.91%) and AT 164 × AT 238 (76.29%) in E1; AT 238 × GT 1 (109.97%), AT 255 × Nesadi Selection (103.94%) and AT 164 × AT 238 (98.34%) in E2; AT 255 × Nesadi Selection (57.24%), AT 238 × GT 1 (45.27%) and AT 164 × AT 238 (40.45%) in E3; AT 238 × GT 1 (70.35%), AT 255 × Nesadi Selection (67.39%) and AT 164 × AT 238 (65.01%) in E4; and AT 238 × GT 1 (94.43%), AT 255 × Nesadi Selection (94.24%) and AT 164 × AT 238 (83.30%) in pooled over environments were the best three cross combinations with respect to heterobeltiosis. None of the cross combination noted significant and positive standard heterosis in E3 and E4 environment, while AT 238 × AT 345 (15.48%), AT 282 × GT 10 (14.83%) and AT 238 × GT 1 (13.28%) in E1 and AT 238 × AT 345 (41.23%), AT 282 × GT 10 (26.64%), AT 238 × GT 1 (24.73%) and AT 164 × AT 238 (18.45%) in E2 environment manifested the significant and positive standard heterosis. On pooled basis, AT 238 × AT 345 (11.69%) was the best cross manifested significant and positive standard heterosis for seed yield per plant. This cross also manifested significant standard heterosis in desired direction for yield components like number of branches per plant, height to first capsule and biological yield per plant. Therefore, the cross AT 238 × AT 345 could be exploited further for yield advancement in sesame.