STUDIES ON HETEROSIS BREEDING IN CHEWING TOBACCO ( NICOTIANA TABACUM L.)

Abstract

Development of hybrid varieties will be one of the approaches in crop improvement programme and in this direction eleven chewing tobacco hybrids developed utilizing the popular chewing tobacco cultivars were evaluated in a replicated trial along with Bhagyalakshmi, Vairam and Abirami as checks for two consecutive years (2005-07), revealed that seven hybrids recorded significantly higher whole leaf yields ranging from 2514 to 2977 kg/ha over the best check Bhagyalakshmi. Five hybrids viz., PV-7 x Abirami, VD-1 x Abirami, Vairam x Abirami, Abirami x KV-1 and ms Meenakshi x GT-6 recorded significantly higher total leaf yields ranging from 3590 to 3914 kg/ha compared to the best check Abirami with the standard heterosis ranging from 9.81 to 19.73%. Variability in respect of yield component attributes such as leaf length, leaf width, stem girth etc., were also significant. In the bulk evaluation of the five promising hybrids (VDH-1 to VDH-5) selected from the said trial during 2006-09 in the out station centers, the hybrid Abirami x KV-1 (VDH-3) uniformly performed well registering highest mean cured leaf yield of 3962 kg/ha with an increase of 13.3% against the best check Abirami. It has got good chewing and chemical quality characters, less susceptibility to TMV, leaf curl, black shank, caterpillar and aphid attack.