Evaluation of cashew, Anacardium occidentale Lhybrids for flowering parameters

A field experiment was carried out under All India Coordinated Research Project on Cashew at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Odisha to evaluate the cashew hybrids for various flowering parameters. The experiment was laid out by adopting augmented statistical design with 71 genotypes including 60 hybrids, 8 parents and 3 check varieties. The analysis of results based on adjusted mean values on various flowering parameters showed significant variations among the entries. The results clearly revealed that the selection of suitable parents and their combinations should be based on flowering parameters towards developing new hybrids or varieties of cashew. The parents like RP-2 and M-44/3 were identified as ideal female parents while VTH-711/4 and KBN as ideal male parents for development of better hybrids. Irrespective of cashew type (hybrids, cross parents and check varieties), the flowering duration varied from 78 days in check varieties Jagannatha (BH-6) to 126 in hybrid, A-71 and H-6. Considering the overall flowering parameters, relatively better hybrids identified in the present study were A-71, B-27, C-41, D-19, F-28 and G-8.