Exploitation of heterosis for qualitative and quantitative characters in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) czern & coss)

A study was conducted in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea(L.) Czern&Coss) at Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar (Gujarat) to assess the extent of heterosis for thirteen characters including seed yield per plant. Ten lines and four testers were crossed in line x tester mating design to develop 40 F1 hybrids. The analysis of variance was found significant for all the character suggesting the presence of considerable amount of variability among the parents and hybrids for seed yield per plant, important yield components and quality characters. Aperusal of mean values revealed that the parent SKM-0815 had the highest seed yield per plant, linoleic acid content, oil and protein content whereas among the all hybrids, SKM-0907 x SKM- 0445, SKM-1013 x SKM-0445 and SKM-715 x SKM-0445 registered the highest seed yield per plant. In the present study, extent of heterosis varied from cross to cross for all the traits. The cross SKM-0907 x SKM-0445 recorded the highest heterosis for seed yield per plant (63.60%) over check variety GM 3 followed by SKM-0518 x KRANTI (38.27%) and SKM-1013 x SKM-0445 (37.23%), while hybrid SKM-0907 x SKM-0445 recorded highest relative heterosis (106.48%) and heterobeltiosis (84.44%) for seed yield per plant.