Heterosis analysis in pearl millet hybrids [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.]

The present investigation was carried out with the objective to ascertain the magnitude of heterosis of 35 hybrids resulted from Line x Tester mating design of seven CMS lines and five restorer tester parents along with the standard check (GHB 558). The highly significant analysis of variance for parents and hybrids among all traits revealed that, the existence of an appreciable amount of genetic variability in the experimental material. In practical plant breeding, the heterosis measured over standard check is more realistic and is of more practical importance. In the present study, heterosis has been estimated over the better parent and popular check hybrid. The aim of present study was to find out the best combination of parents giving a high degree of heterobeltosis and standard heterosis and its exploitation to get better transgressive segregants and characterization of parents for their prospects for further use in the breeding programme of pearl millet. The mean sum of due to parents vs. hybrids for most of the traits is significant for heterosis. The degree of heterosis varied from the cross to cross for all the 10 characters. Considerable high heterosis in certain crosses and low in others revealed that the nature of gene action varied with the genetic makeup of the parents. The hybrids viz., ICMA 07777 x 18488 R, ICMA 06777 x 18805 R and ICMA 96222 x 18488 R showed high per se performance with highly significant positive heterobeltiosis, standard heterosis for grain yield per plant.