J. Appl. Biosci., 39(2) 109 ISSN (Print) 0975-685X ISSN (Online) 0975-864X J. Appl. Biosci., 39(2): 109-114, December, 2013 HETEROSIS BREEDING FOR MATURITY AND QUALITY TRAITS IN DIALLEL CROSSES OF MAIZE DHAIRYASHIL M. LANGADE*, J.P. SHAHI, KARTIKEYA SRIVASTAVA, PRABHAT KUMAR and AMITA SHARMA Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005 (U.P.), India ABSTRACT The present investigation was undertaken to estimate heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis in maize during Rabi 2011-12 and Kharif 2012 at the Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, with a view to identify combinations expressing high hybrid vigour. Ten parents were crossed in a diallel fashion and were planted in a RCBD along with parents, reciprocals and their ninety F 1 combinations. Observations were recorded for 7 maturity and quality traits. The analysis of variance revealed that mean squares due to progenies and parents were highly significant for all the traits. Negative heterosis is desirable for days to 50% tasseling and days to 50% silking as these would help in the development of early maturing cultivars. The magnitude of heterosis over BP for DTT ranged from -17.30% to -1.72% in Rabi and from -24.46% to -0.60% in Kharif, whereas, it ranged from -1.36% to -16.89% in Rabi and from -2.65% to -24.23% in Kharif over BP for DTS. Parental lines P4, P5, P8, P9 and P10 would be desirable lines as donor to get good hybrids for maturity and quality traits. KEY WORDS: Diallel cross; Heterobeltiosis; Maize (Zea mays L.); Standard heterosis *Corresponding author; email: dhirajlangade@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal in India after rice and wheat that provides food, feed, fodder, fuel and serves as a source of basic raw material for a number of industrial products viz., starch, oil, protein, alcoholic beverages, food sweeteners, cosmetics and bio- fuel, etc. India ranks 6 th in area and 5 th in production of maize. The area, production and productivity of maize in India were 8.55 mha, 21.72 mt and 2.54 t/ha, respectively, in 2010-11 (FAOSTAT, 2011). Among major producing states of India, Andhra Pradesh tops the list with contribution of 26% of the total maize production. The other producing states are Karnataka (23%), Rajasthan (13%), Bihar (15%), Madhya Pradesh (12%) and Uttar Pradesh (11%). Heterosis is a basic tool for improved production of crops in the form of F 1 hybrids. Yield of many crops have been boosted through widely using and exploiting heterosis by plant breeders. Therefore, the heterotic studies can provide the basis for the exploitation of valuable hybrid combinations in future breeding programmes and their commercial utilization. Hybrid maize production has been successfully used by growers in each area. An important prerequisite for the successful production of hybrid varieties is the presence of sufficient hybrid vigour. Occurrence of heterosis in considerable quantities for maturity, grain yield and quality traits and its various components in F 1 maize populations has been reported by several workers (Roy et al., 1998; Paul & Debnath, 1999; Tollenaar et al., 2004; Rokadia & Kaushik, 2005; Muraya et al., 2006; Meseka et al., 2006; Revilla et al., 2006). The hybrid must be superior both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Heterosis is the amount by which a hybrid exceeds its mid parent value or its better parent (heterobeltiosis). The term heterobeltiosis coined by Fonseca (1965), was also estimated in terms of percent increase or decrease of the F 1 hybrid over its better parent. Both heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis were determined as percent increase (+) or decrease (-) of F 1 over better parent (F 1 -BP/BP x 100) parent as well as over standard checks (F 1 -SH/SH x100), respectively. Therefore, the present studies were undertaken to estimate the standard heterosis and