HETEROSIS FOR YIELD AND RELATED CHARACTERS IN MULBERRY

Abstract

Heterosis in mulbeny was studied for leaf yield and its component characters in 15 hybrids developed from 8 parents comprising of 3 females and 5 males. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among the parents and crosses. Greater variability in the parents indkated the possibility of getting higher heterosis in the crosses. None of the crosses showed uniformity in the heterosis for yield components. However, significant positive heterosis to the magnitude of 46.76 to 72.27% over better parent, 34.7 to 149.69% over mid parent and 38.1 to 38.54% over standard variety (SI)was observed among the crOGses for leaf yield. Heterosis breeding in mulbuny, thus, found to be quite achievable, though mulbuny is known to be highly heterozygous. Berhampore-l x KajIi seems to be highly promising for future utilisation.