Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, is essential to plant breeding. Heterosis effects are often seen when two parent lines are crossed and the offspring (an F1 hybrid) displays improved characteristics for biomass, yield, etc. There is conflicting evidence whether the genetic distance between parental lines can be used as a selection tool to generate superior heterozygous F1 hybrids across different crop species. In this study, genotyping by sequencing analysis of different sugar beet F1 hybrids was undertaken to determine the relationship between levels of heterozygosity and the expression of heterosis for several characteristics.