HETEROSIS FOR YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF Brassica napus L.

Abstract

Oilseed rape tBrassica napus L.) is the most important oil crop. Due to a continually increasing demand for rapeseed oil for food and non-food uses, the production of hybrid cultivars with higher seed and oil yield has become increasingly important in recent years. However, the systematic use of heterosis for hybrid breeding in oil seed rape is limited by relatively narrow genetic base of adapted germplasm, which can impede the generation of distinct heterotic pools. In the present study, experimental hybrids were developed from the crosses between tweenty pollen lines and two eMS testers. Different types of heterosis were estimated to evaluate forty Brassica hybrids. Mid parent heterosis (Hrn), heterosis over pollen parent (Hp) and heterosis over standard check (He) were estimated for eleven yield and yield related characters; where BARI Sarisha-8 was used as check variety. The average heterosis for seed yield of 40 hybrids over mid parent was 60.26% and that of over pollen parent and standard check variety was 230.87% and 170.92% respectively. All hybrids showed higher plant height than the standard check variety.