33 Gregor Mendel Foundation Journal 1: 33-35; 2010. Genetic variability created through biparental mating in bhendi (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench). Raju C. 1 , Satish R.G. 2 , Rajesab 2 , Shanthakumar G. 1 and Anuluxmi Nayak 2 1 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India. 2 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Abstract: The study was also aimed to know the relative efficiency of BIPs over F 3 in turns of release of genetic variability and to know the shift in the association pattern of components of traits with fruit yield in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L) Monech)., an important vegetable crop grown in the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world. The present investigation was carried out during kharif and summer seasons of 2007-08 to study the nature and magnitude of variability generated in the case of different quantitative traits in the population obtained by attempting crosses in the F 2 generation of 4 commercial single cross private bhendi hybrids namely safal, rasi, seminis and ph101. Biparental mating design was attempted. The plants involved in the cross were also selfed simultaneously to obtain F 3 progenies. The effectiveness of biparental mating was compared with conventional breeding method. The range, variance, heritability and genetic advance were higher in BIPs for all the characters studied except hundred seed weight. The utility of biparental matings in early segregating generations in okra is emphasized. Keywords: Biparental, okra, heritability, genetic advance INTRODUCTION Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L) Monech) is an important vegetable crop grown in the tropical and sub- tropical parts of the world. India is the largest producer of okra covering an area of 3.58 lakh ha with an annual production of 35.24 lakh tonnes (Anon., 2006). Okra belongs to family Malvaceae with 2n =130 chromosomes and amphidiploid nature. The tender fruits are used as vegetable, eaten boiled or in culinary preparations as sliced and fried pieces. It has good nutritional value, particularly high content of vitamin-C (30 mg/100 g), calcium (90 mg/100 g) and iron (1.5 mg/100 g) (Pal et al., 1952). Pedigree method of breeding is the most common in the improvement of self-pollinated crops. However, this method has certain limitations. The rate of homozygosity is very high, which reduces chances of recombination. This also retains tight and undesirable linkages and utilizes only fixable effects. Since, the routine pedigree method of breeding was considered inadequate to exploit the useful genetic variability for complex characters like yield (Humphery et al., 1969), intermating in early segregating generations was suggested to pool the desirable genes from the selected plants in self-pollinated crops (Jensen, 1970). The present study aims to evaluate the efficiency of intermating in F 2 generation of a cross in effecting improvement and to compare it with the pedigree method of breeding. MATERIALS AND METHOD The experimental material for the present investigation comprised of F 2 generation of four commercial single cross private hybrids safal, rasi, seminis and ph101. About 25 plants were selected in each F 2 populations on visual basis keeping in view the vigour for selective intermating. The F 2 plants used in biparental mating were also selfed to yield F 3 progenies. The experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Hanumanmatti, Karnataka during kharif 2007-08. The BIP population and their corresponding F 3 population were sown in the field with a row length of 5m. The rows and plants were spaced at 60 cm and 30 cm respectively. The data were recorded on five plants in BIP and F 3 for 11 characters viz., days to first flowering, fruit length, fruit diameter, average fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, plant height, internodal length, number of branches per plant, 100 seed weight, stem diameter and fruit yield per plant. The means and ranges in respect to each character were worked out in the biparental as well as F 3 progenies. The phenotypic and genotypic variances, phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation, heritability in broad sense and genetic advance were computed following the method of Burton and Devane (1953). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The comparison of mean and range of expression of different characters (Table 1) between BIP and F 3 indicated that F 3 populations showed high mean values than BIPs for the characters like plant height, internodal length, number of branches per plant, days to first flowering and fruit yield per plant. It was due to wide range observed in BIPs for the character under study. The present findings are in agreement with the findings of Singh and