Journal of Applied and Natural Science 11(1): 1-6 (2019) ISSN : 0974-9411 (Print), 2231-5209 (Online) journals.ansfoundation.org Estimation of heterobeltiosis in F 1 hybrids of China aster [Callistephus chinensis (L.) Nees] Veluru Bhargav Division of Floriculture and Medicinal Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru (Karnataka), INDIA Rajiv Kumar Division of Floriculture and Medicinal Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru (Karnataka), INDIA T. Manjunatha Rao Division of Floriculture and Medicinal Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru (Karnataka), INDIA T. Usha Bharathi Division of Floriculture and Medicinal Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru (Karnataka), INDIA M. V. Dhananjaya Division of Vegetable Science, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru (Karnataka), INDIA R. Venugopalan Division of Social Science and Training, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru (Karnataka), INDIA *Corresponding author. E-mail: bhargavhorti12@gmail.com Abstract Heterosis over better parents was estimated in thirty crosses of China aster involving six lines viz., Matsumoto Pink, Matsumoto Red, Matsumoto Rose, Matsumoto Yellow, Matsu- moto Scarlet and Matsumoto White and five testers viz., Phule Ganesh Violet, Phule Ganesh Purple, IIHRJ3-2, IIHRG13 and Local White during 2016-17 at ICAR-Indian Insti- tute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru during 2016-17. Results revealed that the cross L6 × T5 exhibited highest positive significant heterobeltiosis at 5% level of significance for plant height (33.85), flower stalk length (73.76), number of flowers per plant (101.18), weight of flowers per plant (47.90) and flower yield per hectare (47.91). The cross L1 x T3 exhibited maximum negative heterobeltiosis for days to first flowering ( -47.41). L5 x T4 recorded the maximum positive heterobeltiosis (at 5%) for flower head diameter (26.44) and 100 flower weight (3.41). Keywords: China aster, Heterobeltiosis, Line, Tester, Yield Article Info DOI:10.31018/jans.v11i1.1950 Received: November 20, 2018 Revised: January 5, 2019 Accepted: January11, 2019 How to Cite Bhargav, V. et al. (2019). Estimation of heterobelti- osis in F 1 hybrids of China aster [Callistephus chinen- sis (L.) Nees]. Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 11(1): 1-6 INTRODUCTION China aster belongs to the family Asteraceae and is native of Northern China (Navalinskien et al., 2005). It is one of the most popular annual flower crops cultivated widely due to existing of various colours ranging from violet, purple, magenta, pink and white; forms, sizes and comparatively longer vase life (Dilta et al., 2007). It is grown commer- cially as cut flower for flower arrangement, interior decoration and loose flower garland making, wor- shipping (Munikrishnappa, 2013). It can also be grown as bedding plant and potted plant in land- scaping (Bhargav et al. 2016). China aster is com- mercially grown by marginal and small farmers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pra- desh, Maharashtra and West Bengal states of India (Kumari et al., 2017). In Karnataka alone, it is grown in an area of 1693 ha with productivity of 9.39 t/ha (Anonymous, 2016). However, information on heterosis is meager in China aster. Exploitation of heterosis proved to be most viable method of breeding in increasing productivity and the production. The hybrids have various advantages over open pollinated varieties such as earliness, profuse and uniform flowering, increased flower weight, large flower size, elon- gated flower stalk, longer flower duration etc. Hence, the present study was carried out to esti- mate het-erobeltiosis in 30 crosses for vegetative, flowering, yield and vase life traits in China aster. MATERIALS AND METHODS An experiment was carried out in the Floriculture and Medicinal Crops, ICAR-Indian Institute of Hor- This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). © 2018: Author (s). Publishing rights @ ANSF.