HETEROSIS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH COMBINING ABILITY, PARENTAL DIVERSITY AND PER SE PERFORMANCE IN SESAME

Heterosis and combining ability in sesame (Sesamum indicum) for five traits, viz., branches/plant, capsules/plant, seeds/capsule, 1000-seed weight and yield/plant were studied in F1 of a 12-parent half diallel cross. Heterosis over better parent in the traits was the highest in yield/plant followed by capsules/plant and branches/plant, moderate in seeds/capsule and minimal in 1000-seed weight. A vast majority of the crosses showing high heterosis in different traits involved one or both parents having moderate GCA effects and most of these crosses had high SCA effects in the traits. Most crosses showing high heterosis in yield involved one or both parents having moderate per se performance in yield and crosses between high yielding parents did not often show much heterosis in yield. In general, crosses between parents with moderate to high genetic divergence (D2) in multiple traits showed more heterosis in yield.