Author(s):

Anil Kumar, Ramesh Kumar, Dev Vart and Ashok Kumar Dehinwal

Abstract: Investigation was undertaken to quantify the magnitude of heterosis of alloplasmic- isonuclear lines of pearl millet in two environments (normal and late sown crop). Three alloplasmic isonuclear pearl millet lines (81A₁, 81A₄, 81A₅ and their corresponding maintainer lines) were crossed with eight diverse pollinators in a line x tester design to study the nature and magnitude of heterosis for grain yield and its eight component traits. The extent of heterosis varied in each cross for all the characters studied. The high magnitude of heterosis was not observed for any of the trait; medium level of heterosis was exhibited for grain yield per plant, dry fodder yield per plant, harvest index and effective tillers per plant. While, low amount of heterosis was recorded for days to 50 % flowering, 1000-grain weight, plant height, panicle length and panicle girth. Among 48 crosses, eight (Environment 1) and seven (Environment 2) hybrids exhibited significant and positive heterosis over standard check (HHB-197) for grain yield. The direction and magnitude of heterosis varied from cross to cross in two different environments. This indicates environmental influence on the expression of hybrid vigour. The hybrid combination 3×11 (81A₅×ERC) expressed significant positive heterosis for grain yield, effective tillers, panicle girth, harvest index in one or both the environments. The hybrids namely 1×13 (81A₁×99HS141) for days to 50% flowering, 1000-grain weight, panicle girth and 4×12 (81B₁×H77/833-2) for dry fodder yield, effective tillers, panicle length expressed high heterosis for these productivity traits. The other crosses namely 1×10 (81A₁×MRC) exhibited desirable heterosis for grain yield, effective tillers, panicle girth, panicle length and harvest index; 3×14 (81A₅×HTP 92/80) for grain yield, 1000- grain weight and harvest index. These crosses involved the 81A₁ and 81A₅ cytoplasmic sources. This indicated the superiority of these two cytoplasmic sources to produce heterotic hybrids.

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