Journal of Phytology ● Vol 9 ● 2017 11 INTRODUCTION Cotton is most important fiber crop of India being a raw material for textile industry and plays a key role in agricultural economy. There are four species of cotton, namely, Gossypium hirsutum L, Gossypium barbadense L., Gossypium herbaceum L., and Gossypium arboreum L. are cultivated all over the world. In India, all the four cultivated species are grown in different zones. The genotypes of G. hirsutum are known for high yielding, whereas the genotypes of G. barbadense are known for fiber quality. The genotypes of cotton having high yield with quality fiber are the demand of farmers. Improvement in relation to yield and other quality characters over the mean of the two parents or over the better parents is known as hybrid vigor. Heterosis is considered as useful when the yield of hybrid increase over the standard commercial check (Meredith and Bridge, 1972). Through heterosis, seed cotton along with quality traits can be improved significantly (Naquibullah et al ., 2000). Therefore, the heterosis study is helpful to achieve the high degree of heterotic response by the parents having desirable characters in crop breeding program. Several attempts have been made in the past by various workers in the country for the development of interspecific hybrids (G. hirsutum L × G. barbadense L.) and which have resulted in the release of interspecific hybrids such as Varlaxmi and DCH32 etc. Keeping in mind the economic importance of interspecific hybrids, the present investigation was carried out to develop interspecific hybrids between elite lines of G. hirsutum L. and G. barbadense L. and study the extent of heterosis for yield and yield components. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the present study, 12 inbreed lines of G. hirsutum L., namely , RAH1065, PH1075, P2151, GBHV170, SCS793, DHY286, AKH8828, AKH081, PKV RAJAT, LRA5166, PH348, and NH615 and five inbreed lines of G. barbadense, namely. SB289E, Reba-B-50, SUJATA, Sb-425 YF, and Suvin with varying morphological and agronomic characters were selected on the basis of per se performance. The selected 12 lines of G. hirsutum and 5 testers of G. barbadense were crossed in line × tester manner during Kharif 2014 to produce 60 hybrids. The spacing of 90 cm between rows and 60 cm Heterosis studies for quantitative traits in interspecifc hybrids of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. × Gossypium barbadense L.) Anil Devidas Adsare*, Abhay Narayan Salve, Narendrakumar Prakash Patil Department of Botany, Government Institute of Science, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India Received: 10.04.2017 Accepted: 03.05.2017 Published: 07.05.2017 *Address for correspondence: Anil Devidas Adsare, Department of Botany, Government Institute of Science, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. E-mail: aniladsare111@ gmail.com ABSTRACT A study was conducted in interspecific cotton hybrids (Gossypium hirsutum L. × Gossypium barbadense L.) to assess the extent of the heterosis for eight yield and yield-attributing traits. Twelve lines of G. hirsutum and five testers of G. barbadense were crossed in line × tester manner to develop 60 F 1 hybrids. Analysis of variance revealed the significant differences among the crosses for all traits. Heterosis was worked out over mid parent, better parent, and two standard checks, i.e. MRC 7918 and Varalaxmi. Crosses RAH1065 × SUJATA, PH1075 × SUJATA, PH348 × SUJATA, and DHY286 × Suvin were the best heterotic combinations for seed cotton yield and could be utilized for hybrid development. These hybrids were shown desirable heterosis for seed cotton yield along with other yield components. These hybrids may be tested in large-scale trial to confirm the superiority in heterosis. KEY WORDS: Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense, heterosis, interspecific hybrids Original Article Journal of Phytology 2017, 9: 11-14 http://sciencefora.org/journals/index.php/jp/ doi: 10.19071/ jp.2017.v9.3213