Estimation of heterosis on CGMS based pigeonpea

Thirty-five hybrids generated from seven cytoplasmic male sterile lines and five fertility restorer lines were tested for determining heterosis. All studied traits except pod length, number of seeds per pod, and leaf area showed significant variations between the parents indicating a sufficient variability amongthe parents (lines and testers). The mean sum of squares of the hybrids suggested high heterosis for studied traits except for test weight and number of branches per plant. The findings showed noteworthy and affirmative relative heterosis for eaj hybrid. Top three hybrids viz. CMS GT 1615 A × GTR 105 (28.34% and 38.97%), CMS GT 1615 A × GTR 18 (24.36% and 34.66%) and CMS GT 1615 × GTR 23 (22.23% and 32.35%) identified for seed yield and its contributing traits on the basis of standard heterosis against standard checks GTH 1 and GT 101, respectively. These can be exploited commercially for heterosis breeding in pigeonpea.