Heterosis studies in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

Heterosis for seed yield and its components was studied in a set of line x tester crosses of 10 lines and 5 testers. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters indicating that the genotypes exhibited significant differences for all the characters studied. The differences among the parents were highly significant for all the characters except days to 50% flowering, width of capsule and oil content. The differences among the hybrids were also found highly significant for all the characters suggesting the presence of sufficient diversity among hybrids themselves for all the characters. While, differences among the parents vs hybrids were also found significant for six characters viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, number of internodes per plant, length of capsule, number of capsules per plant and seed yield per plant. High heterosis was observed for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, number of branches per plant, number of internodes per plant, length of capsule, number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsule, 1000-seed weight and seed yield per plant. Whereas, the magnitude of heterosis was moderate for plant height, height to first capsule, width of capsule, number of capsules per leaf axil and oil content. The range of heterobeltiosis for seed yield per plant was from -44.14 to 50.9%, while the standard heterosis ranged from 42.01 to 54.9%. The cross Borda-2 x G.Til-1-9-4 had recorded the highest standard heterosis for seed yield per plant followed by ES-246 x G.Til-4, RMT-180 x G.Til-3 and ES-246 x G.Til-2. These crosses also exhibited desirable heterosis for important yield attributes suggested the heterosis for seed yield was associated with heterosis for component characters, which could be further exploited in sesame breeding.