a) Increased yield: Heterosis is generally expressed as an increase in the yield of hybrids. Commercially, this phenomenon is of the greatest importance since higher yields are the most important objective of plant breeding. The yield may be measured in terms of grain, fruit, seed, leaf, tubers or the whole plant.

b) Increased Reproductive Ability: The hybrids exhibiting heterosis show an increase in fertility or reproductive ability. This is often expressed as higher yield of seeds or fruits or other propagules, e.g., tuber in potato (S. tuberosum), stem in sugarcane (S. officinarum), etc.

c) Increase in Size and General Vigour: The hybrids are generally more vigorous, i.e., healthier and faster growing and larger in size than their parents. The increase in size is usually a result of an increase in the number and size of cells in various plant parts. Some examples of increased size are increases in fruit size in tomato, head size in cabbage, cob size in maize, head size in jowar, etc.

d) Better Quality: In many cases, hybrids show improved quality. This may or may not be accompanied by higher yields. For example, many hybrids in onion show better keeping quality, but not yield, than open-pollinated varieties.

e) Earlier Flowering and Maturity: In many cases, hybrids are earlier in flowering and maturity than the parents. This may sometimes be associated with a lower total plant weight. But earliness is highly desirable in many situations, particularly in vegetables. Many tomato hybrids are earlier than their parents.

f) Greater Resistance to Diseases and Pests: Some hybrids are known to exhibit a greater resistance to insects or diseases than their parents.

g) Greater Adaptability: Hybrids are generally more adapted to environmental changes than inbreds. In general, the variance of hybrids is significantly smaller than that of inbreds. This shows that hybrids are more adapted to environmental variations than are inbreds. In fact, it is one of the physiological explanations offered for heterosis.

h) Faster Growth Rate: In some cases, hybrids show a faster growth rate than their parents. But the total plant size of the hybrids may be comparable to that of parents. In such cases, a faster growth rate is not associated with a larger size.

i) Increase in the Number of a Plant Part: In some cases, there is an increase in the number of nodes, leaves and other plant parts, but the total plant size may not be larger. Such hybrids are known in beans (P. vulgaris) and some other crops.