Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is an important non-edible oilseed crop of arid and semi-arid regions of the world. It yields the most useful and economically important oil having used for production of over 700 industrial products directly or indirectly. Castor seed contains about 45-52 % oil which has 85-90 % ricinoleic acid, a unique fatty acid. Ricinoleic acid is principal component of preparation of numerous industrial products. By-product after castor oil extraction, the castor cake or de-oiled cake, is also considered as excellent organic manure. It is cultivated in 30 different countries on commercial scale of which India, China, Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Ethiopia and Philippines are major castor seed growing countries accounting for nearly 88% of the world's production. India has lion’s share of nearly 75-80% area of the world’s castor bean contributing to nearly 80- 85% of total global production of castor. Castor productivity in India is more than average and it ranks first among the major castor producing countries. The major castor growing states in India are Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. In India, Gujarat is leading castor growing state, which produces 76 per cent of total production. The productivity of castor is higher in Gujarat because more than 90 per cent cultivated areas are covered by castor hybrids under irrigated condition. The release of first hybrid GCH-3 based on exotic pistillate line TSP-10R in Gujarat during the year 1968 attracted the attention of breeders to utilize the heterosis on commercial scale. Subsequently, heterosis breeding programme was geared up in Gujarat and as a result, ten hybrids viz., GCH-3 (1968), GAUCH-1 (1973), GCH-2 (1983), GCH-4 (1986), GCH-5 (1995), GCH-6 (1999), GCH-7 (2006), GCH-8 (2017), GCH-9 (2018) and GCH-10 (2019) were released periodically for commercial cultivation with a yield potential of over 7 tonnes/ha under irrigated conditions which based on versatile pistillate lines VP-1, SKP-84 and JP-96 possesses S-type female sex mechanism.
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