Performance of Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) Hybrids for Nut Yield Sethi Kabita*, Tripathy P., Lenka P. C., Tripathy S. K., Das S. N. All India Coordinated Research Project on Cashew, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India *email: kabita2273@yahoo.com
Online published on 2 January, 2017. Abstract Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is an important export oriented commercial plantation crops of India. Although India is the first country in the world to exploit the versality of cashew plants, converging a neglected crop to become most important commercial cash crop, but the productivity of Indian cashew is hardly 772 kg ha−1 than other countries. This low production and productivity of Indian cashew can be addressed effectively by development and proper evaluation of hybrids in different agro-climatic zones of the country. The present investigation was therefore conducted under All India Coordinated Research Project on Cashew, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India during 2011 and 2012 by evaluating 71 cashew genotypes including eight parents and three check varieties. The experiment was laid out by adopting augmented statistical design and the adjusted mean value of pooled data were used for interpretation of the results. The data revealed significant variations for nut yield among the hybrids, their parents and check varieties. Kalyanpur Bold Nut (KBN) was identified as best male parents towards exploitation of heterosis for nut yield. Heterosis for nut yield of cashew was observed as high as 37.56% in hybrid, D-19. The cashew hybridsnamely A-48, A-71, B-27, D-19, G-8, H-6 and H-8 may be recommended for commercial cultivation to achieve the target production and enhance the productivity under Odisha condition. Top Keywords cashew, hybrids, nut yield. Top |