*Part of the thesis submitted by Brijendra Singh for the Ph.D. degree of Agra University.
Division of Vegetable Crops and Floriculture, I.A.R.I., New Delhi-12
The present study was undertaken on a 7 × 7 diallel cross excluding reciprocals. In the F1 hybrids there was appreciable heterosis in all the eight characters, namely plant height, days for first flowering, duration of flowering, flower size, flower weight, flowers at peak flowering, total number of flowers and seed weight. The maximum heterosis was observed in total number of flowers. The crosses P1 × P5, P1 × P6 and P4 × P6 showed the highest heterosis percentage in flower size and flower weight, early flowering and total number of flowers respectively. The highest flower yield was recorded in the hybrid P5 × P6. The mean squares for g.c.a. were greater than those for s.c.a. in all cases except in total number of flowers. In all the hybrids which showed best s.c.a. effects the parental lines involved were at least one of the three most outstanding parental lines namely Spun Gold, Sun Giant and Hawaii which also had high g.c.a. effects for one or more of the characters contributing towards yield.
