Heterosis and Combining Ability in Pigeon Pea

Means and magnitude of heterosis in between-group-crosses involving ten diverse parents of pigeonpea were examined. The characters plant height, days to flower and maturity, seed weight and protein content generally tended to exhibit negative heterosis although individual crosses had positive values. Heterosis for pod number and seed yield was generally positive though some individual crosses showed negative heterosis. Yields as well as heterosis was maximum in E × L and M×L crosses involving diverse plant types. There was preponderance of sca effects. The gca effects for most characters were generally negative for early and medium parents and positive for late parents. It is infeired that specific M×L and E × L cross combinations are likely to yield recombinants of economic worth.