Heterosis in Sesame

The performance of 76 hybrids of Sesamum indicum L., involving 23 varieties/lines of diverse origin was studied to investigate midparent (MP) and better parent (BP) heterosis for seed yield and six other component characters over three environments. The MP and BP heterosis for seed yield ranged from 38.99 to 130.68% and 48.38 to 118.77%, respectively. Out of 76 hybrids, 36 showed significant positive heterosis over the corresponding BP for seed yield. Significant heterosis for other component characters, such as, capsules/plant, branches/plant, seeds/capsule, 1000-seed weight, plant height, and days to flowering was also observed, indicating their contribution towards seed yield. Crosses Type 85 × C2 and Sel R × Type 10 involving high general combining parents, exhibited very high heterosis and sea effects for seed yield, and thus, need exploitation for developing high yielding lines.