Studies on assessment of heterosis for fruit yield and attributing characters in okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench]

Twenty one crosses from 7 × 7 diallel excluding reciprocals were studied to assess the magnitude of heterosis over standard check (SC) for fruit yield and its components in Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L) Moench]. Analysis of variance for genotypes manifested highly significant differences for different characters which indicating the considerable genetic diversity among the material studied. For total fruit yield per plant standard heterosis ranged from -31.36 to 35.01 per cent and total four hybrids showed positive direction heterosis over standard check. The cross AOL-10-22 x GAO-5 exhibited the highest magnitude of heterosis to the extent of 35.01 per cent over standard check for fruit yield per plant. Other best performing crosses on the basis of merit are AOL-10-22 x VRO-6 (34.15%), HRB-55 x AOL-12-59 (7.94%) and JDNOL-11-01 x Arka Anamika (2.78%) respectively and the crosses can be used for exploitation of hybrid vigor on commercial scale. For number of fruits per plant hybrids AOL-10-22 x GAO-5 (20.69%), AOL-10-22 x VRO-6 (19.83%) and HRB-55 x AOL-12-59 (5.17%) depicted higher heterosis over standard check (HOK-152). The values for standard heterosis for fruits per plant ranged from -27.16 to 20.69 per cent and three crosses exhibited positive standard heterosis. The study reveals good scope for exploitation of heterosis in okra for high yield.