Estimation of genetic components using triple test cross analysis in Inter-varietal crosses of okra

The triple test cross analysis involving second degree statistics was employed in two inter-varietal crosses of okra for detection of epistasis and estimation of components of genetic variance. The experiment was conducted over two environments i.e. rainy season and spring at Experimental Farm of the Department of Vegetable Crops. The epistasis was found to be significant for almost all the traits in both the environments. The partitioning of epistasis indicated predominance of additive x dominance and dominance x dominance gene effects for most of the traits compared to additive x additive in both the seasons. The analysis of variance for sums and differences for both the crosses in individual as well as pooled environments revealed that the dominance components were more important than the additive for the inheritance of most of the traits. The exploitation of heterosis breeding, therefore, would be the right strategy for improvement in okra.