Contents: Foreword. Preface. Special Chapter: 1. Role of hybrids in enhancing crop productivity in India/Mangala Rai. Genetic diversity for hybrid development: 2. Heterosis in crop plants: genetic and molecular bases/G. Kalloo and B.M. Prasanna. 3. Concepts and mechanisms of Heterosis/Rajesh Kumar, H.C. Prasanna, Sanjeet Kumar, Major Singh and Mathura Rai. 4. Conservation of genetic diversity of crop plants in Indian agricultural research system/B.S. Dhillon and Anurudh K. Singh. 5. Germplasm utilization in hybrid development/Anurudh K. Singh. 6. Heterotic grouping in maize--conventional and molecular approaches/B.M. Prasanna. Enhancement of heterosis in important crops: 7. Approaches to exploit heterosis in Sorghum/Belum V.S. Reddy, S. Ramesh and P. Sanjana Reddy. 8. Heterosis breeding in Pearl Millet/K.N. Rai. 9. Enhancement of heterosis in cotton/B.M. Khadi. 10. Enhancement of heterosis in castor/H.C. Pathak, F.P. Chaudhary, K.R. Patel, P.B. Patel, S.I. Kapadia and M.S. Patel. 11. Harnessing heterosis: solanaceous vegetables/Mathura Rai, Major Singh, Sanjeet Kumar, H.C. Prasanna and Rajesh Kumar. 12. Enhancement of heterosis in cucurbitaceous and Cole crops/Hari Har Ram and Rakesh Yadava. 13. Enhancement of heterosis in fruit and plantation crops/P.M. Kumaran, M.G. Bhat, K.S. Ananda and V. Arunachalam. 14. Heterosis and hybrid seed production in ornamental crops/T. Janakiram. Enhancement of heterosis in non-conventional crops: 15. Seed production in hybrid rice/M.P. Pandey. 16. Status and prospects of hybrid development in bread wheat/N.V.P.R.G. Rao, Vinay Mahajan and Jag Shoran. 17. Prospects of hybrid wheat using CHA/Vinay Mahajan. 18. Enhancement of yield through heterosis utilizing CMS system in Pigeonpea/S.B.S. Tikka, R.M. Chauhan, P.T. Patel and L.D. Parmar. 19. Harnessing heterosis: rapeseed-mustard/S.S. Bangal. 20. Heterosis breeding in safflower: problems and prospects/M. Sujatha. Target oriented inbred line development: 21. Development of inbred lines and hybrids with drought tolerance/B.M. Prasanna. 22. Inbred development for tolerance to temperature/H.S. Gupta, Vinay Mahajan, S.K. Shukla, Sandeep Kumar and Shri Dhar. 23. Development of quality protein maize inbred lines/N.N. Singh and S. Venkatesh. Constraints and bottlenecks in development and management of hybrids: 24. Genetic purity in hybrids: molecular approaches/A.K. Singh, Ajarajita Garg, N. Nandkumar and N.K. Tyagi. Innovative approaches for hybrid development: 25. Molecular marker applications in hybrid breeding/J.L. Karihaloo, M.K. Rana, B.M. Prasanna and A.K. Singh. 26. Apomixis: phenomenon and prospects/P. Kaushal, D.R. Malaviya and A.K. Roy. Strategies for hybrid promotion: 27. IPR-related issues in hybrid technology/S. Prakash Tiwari. Index.

"This publication contains the proceedings of National Symposium "Harnessing Heterosis in Crop Plants". Most of the chapters in this book are based on the presentations made during the event, however, a few chapters are also included with the aim to cover emerging issues. India is credited with the release of first commercial hybrids of several crops. Status and prospects of hybrid research in economically important crop plants are highlighted in chapter 1. Advancement in molecular techniques has been of tremendous utility in studying the mechanism of biological phenomenon. Availability, management and assessment of Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs) provide platform to execute plant breeding including heterosis breeding. These aspects are described in chapters 2,3,4,5 and 6.

Heterosis breeding has played a significant role in increasing productivity of a number of crops. Research aspects and prospects on parental line development, hybrid development and their seed production in such crops are dealt in chapters 7 (sorghum), 8 (pearl millet), 9 (cotton), 10 (castor), 11 (Solanaceous vegetables), 12 (cucurbits and Cole crops), 13 (fruit and plantation crops) and 14 (ornamental crops). There are several non-conventional crops where hybrid technology is at initial stage and would become popular in near future, have also been covered under chapters 15 (rice), 16, 17 (wheat), 18 (Pigeonpea) 19 (rapeseed-mustard) and 20 (safflower). The availability of potential inbred lines is key for developing successful hybrids. In chapters 21, 22 and 23, target-oriented inbreds development for tolerance to abiotic stresses and quality protein maize are described.

Plant biotechnological tools have started playing significant role in increasing the efficacy of hybrid research at several fronts. Applications of molecular markers in genetic purity testing of hybrids/parents and in several areas of heterosis breeding are the contents of chapters 24 and 25. In the chapter 26, the phenomenon of apomixis is being viewed with great promise in revolutionizing the plant breeding by fixing heterosis. Post WTO issues on IPR with respect to hybrid technology have been described in chapter 27. This book provides updated status and prospects of heterosis breeding of economically important crop plants of tropical and subtropical countries in general and that of India in particular. This book would serve the university teachers, researchers and students by providing knowledge on mechanisms underlying with heterosis and updated information on exploitation of heterosis."