Study and Evaluation of Performance of F1 Hybrids of Small Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) Derived from Diallel Crosses

Small cardamom is one of the most important crop in Kerala and grown extensively. Here at our station, we have evaluated the performance of 22 diallel crossing combinations aimed to find out best performing combinations of parents. The studied characters were tillers, panicles, leaves, racemes and capsule. Among 22 combinations, maximum range for yield was shown by SHC 2.1-ICRI 3 × SKP 184 which is 196.6–1633.0 while the highest mean value was shown by SHC 47.1-MCC 260 × SKP 196 with a value of 784.2. The highest mean value for number of tillers and minimum standard deviation was recorded for diallel cross combination SHC 12.1-ICRI 5 × SKP 196 with a value of 21.2 and 1.7 respectively. Among all 22 combinations, SHC 47.1-MCC 260 × SKP 196 is the best one for yield and SHC 12.1-ICRI 5 × SKP 196 for tillers and combining ability. These will be subjected to further improvement for stability against biotic and abiotic stresses as well as quality of capsule.