~ 1749 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2021; 10(11): 1749-1455 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.23 TPI 2021; 10(11): 1749-1455 © 2021 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 10-09-2021 Accepted: 27-10-2021 CD Prajapati Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India MS Patel Centre for Crop Improvement, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India NN Prajapati Centre for Crop Improvement, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India KN Prajapati Polytechnic in Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Khedbrahma, Gujarat, India Corresponding Author: CD Prajapati Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, C. P. College of Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India Heterosis study for yield and yield attributes in pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] CD Prajapati, MS Patel, NN Prajapati and KN Prajapati DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/tpi.2021.v10.i11y.9130 Abstract The present study was undertaken to assess the magnitude of heterosis of 28 hybrids derived from eight parents of pearl millet through diallel mating design excluding reciprocals. Hybrids exhibited from low to high significant mid parent heterosis, heterobeltiosis, and standard heterosis in desired direction for all the traits except standard heterosis for days to flowering as well as number of effective tillers per plant. The hybrid 17548 × 15388 manifested significant economic heterosis in desirable direction for grain yield per plant with plant height, test weight and protein content. The cross 15851 × 15725 also showed high heterotic magnitude over check for grain yield per plant with traits like days to flowering, days to maturity, harvest index and test weight. The heterobeltiosis for grain yield per plant ranged from -58.60 to 350.02 per cent, while the standard heterosis for grain yield per plant ranged from -61.30 to 48.72 per cent. The highest heterobeltiosis was recorded by the hybrids viz.15058 × 15725 and 15058 ×15388. Keywords: Diallel, hybrids, heterosis, heterobeltiosis, harvest index Introduction Globally, pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L) R. Br.] is sixth and in India, it’s third chief cereal food crop just behind rice and wheat. During 2020, pearl millet was grown in 7.41 million ha with average production of 10.3 million tonnes and 1391kg/ha productivity. (Anonymous, 2021) [1] . Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are the important pearl millet growing states where, it is grown both in kharif as well as in summer seasons. Hybrid vigor exploitation is considered to be one of the outstanding achievements in pearl millet. Pearl millet is naturally cross pollinated and easy availability of male sterile lines had made of it easy to exploit hybrid vigor on commercial level. Therefore, to recognize better heterotic response for grain yield with its attributing characters are very important. The breeding methods which utilized for this crop are widely suitable for breeding of almost all cross-pollinated crops. Conventional breeding procedures has been used for its genetic improvement. The present investigation was carried out to identify superior hybrids on the basis of mid parent, better parent and standard heterosis. Materials and Methods Plant materials: An experimental material comprised of 37 genotypes consisting of 28 hybrids resulting from diallel mating design excluding reciprocals involved 8 parental lines and standard check (GHB 558). Field experiments: The experimental material, comprising of 37 entries including 8 parents, their 28 crosses and one commercial check, was raised in Randomized Block Design with three replications in kharif 2019 at Centre for Crop Improvement, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar. Plot size was single row of 3m length with plant-to-plant spacing of 15cm. Different ten observations were recorded on days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of effective tillers per plant, ear head length (cm), ear head girth (cm), grain yield per plant (g), harvest index (%), test weight (g) and protein content (%). The observations were recorded from randomly selected 5 plants from each genotype in each replication. Statistical analysis: The mean performance of parents as well as hybrids was subjected to statistical analysis. Analysis of variance was carried out to test the significance for each character as per methodology suggested by Panse and Sukhatme (1985) [15] . Relative heterosis was calculated by the formula given by Briggle (1963) [3] , Better parent heterosis by Fonseca and Patterson (1968) [9] and Standard heterosis by Meredith and Bridge (1972) [14] .