YRCH 1- A Promising castor hybrid for Tamil Nadu

Castor is grown both under rainfed and irrigated situations. India is the first country to commercially exploit heterosis in castor by two line breeding based on indigenous, stable S type pistillate line, VP-1. In Tamil Nadu the choice of the castor hybrid for cultivation is very limited with availability of only a few hybrids. Hence, there is urgent need to develop and release a high yielding castor hybrid for rain fed and irrigated ecosystem of Tamil Nadu. The castor hybrid YRCH 1 is tested in station trials, MLT, ART, OFT and ICAR - co-ordinated trial along with popular hybrid checks such as GCH 4, DCH 177 and TMVCH 1.Over all the hybrid has been tested in 186 trials across various locations. The castor hybrid YRCH 1 recorded seed yield of 1861 kg/ha which is 27 per cent higher than the national check GCH 4.Duration wise it is 15 days earlier than TMVCH 1 and 30 days earlier than GCH 4. Because of its earliness, this hybrid escapes botrytis infection in early sown conditions during Kharif. In AICRP-Castor coordinated trials also this new hybrid YRCH 1 recorded highest seed yield of 2082 kg /ha which is numerically superior than the national check GCH 4 .In addition to evaluation under Station trials, MLT, ART and National trials, the new hybrid is subjected to Farmers’ Participatory variety Selection (FPVS) under farmers field for 3 Years (2006-2008). The farmers observed earliness, compact highly pistillate productive spike, high branching, lesser time lapse between any two order of spike, compact and short plant type and escape from botrytis in early sown conditions and higher seed yield as the reasons for selecting YRCH 1 as the hybrid of their choice.