Heterosis Studies in Pearl Millet

Twenty one cross combinations were evaluated for relative heterosis and heterobeltiosis with three replications in a Randomized Block Design at research farm of Bajra Research Scheme, College of Agriculture, Dhule during kharif-2024. The core objective of this study was to identify superior crosses based on heterosis. The extent of heterosis differed among the various crosses for each of the traits examined. Notable magnitude of relative heterosis and heterobeltiosis was observed for plant height, 1000 grain weight, grain yield per plant and dry fodder yield per plant. The highest relative heterosis for grain yield was 65.50% and that of better parent heterosis was 60.68%. The heterosis observed for grain yield could be attributed to the heterosis expressed in its component traits, particularly, number of effective tillers per plant, earhead girth, 1000 grain weight. The crosses viz., DHLB-893B X DHLB-895B, DHLB-10B X DHLB-895B, DHLB-36B X DHLB-895B were promising for grain yield on the basis of mean performance and heterosis.