Department of Plant Breeding, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
*Present address: Agricultural Complex, H. P. University, Palampur (Kangra), H. P.
The present investigation was undertaken to see the extent of heterosis in field pea. Six varieties from indigenous and exotic sources and their 15 F1’s were grown in a randomized block design. Three crosses gave significantly greater yield than their respective better parents. The hybrid T. 163 X EC. 4658 exceeded in yield the best parent under the study by 26% margin. The difference, however, was just significant. Manifestation of heterosis was also recorded for branches per plant, pods per plant, length of the main branch and days to flower. For other traits magnitude of heterosis was quite low. The utility of such heterosis, from the stand point of economy, under the current pea breeding programme has been discussed.
