Prediction and Postdiction of Heterosis in Safflower (Carthmus tinctorius L.)

Selected lines of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L) were used to predict the heterosis for yield and yield components and to assess the reliability of prediction methods. The highest magnitude of useful heterosis was observed in respect of number of seeds per capitula (53.78%), seed yield per plant (27.23%), 100 seed weight (2.58%) and days to maturity (-2.87%). Only one cross, AKMS 1 x JLSF 228 recorded significant useful heterosis over the check variety Bhima for seed yield per plant (27.23%).The parents JLSF 228, A₁ and Bhima were good general combiners for seed yield per plant. The predictive model was effective for describing hybrid. There was, however, the positive relationship between mid parent and hybrid yield indicating that mid parent may still be a useful guide for the selection of parents for testing hybrid combinations. The effectiveness of predictive and postdiction model differed for different characters except for number of seeds per capitulum and days to maturity for which both models were equally effective in predicting hybrid yield.