నైరూప్య

Heterosis in Blackgram (Vigna Mungo L. Hepper) - History and Future Thrust

S Isha Parveen, M Reddi Sekhar, DM Reddy and P Sudhakar

The present review highlights the past, present and future importance of heterotic studies in blackgram. Heterosis, the important genetic mechanism operates to bring superiority in F1 hybrid than their parents. Heterosis has been of immense economic value in agriculture and has important implications regarding the fitness and fecundity of individuals in natural populations. Considering blackgram (Vigna mungo L.), a pulse crop which is self pollinated, little work has been done on heterosis. This genetic tool is the basic mechanism in developing blackgram cultivars with high yielding potentials. The increase in blackgram production volume comes mainly from the increase in blackgram cultivated area. A possible breakthrough for this production limitation is to exploit hybrid vigor of the F1 for possible production of hybrid varieties. The magnitude of hybrid vigor is normally presented in terms of heterosis (superiority of the F1 hybrid over its parental mean) and heterobeltiosis (superiority of the F1 hybrid over its better parent). The results on heterosis so far in blackgram were encouraging and still there a scope to utilize this genetic phenonmenon to develop new cultivars superior than existing.