Background: In contrast to field crops, quality is often more essential than yield in vegetable crops. As a result, this research began with the objective of assessing the diversity and novelty of okra genotypes. Methods: A field investigation was carried out at Sivapuri Village, Chidambaram, Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, India, in the summer of 2020-2021. To match with distinctiveness, uniformity and stability, qualitative data for 18 characters were collected based on vegetative and reproductive characters. Result: Results obtained in this study revealed a high level of variability among the genotypes for the majority of the qualitative traits, except for plant growth habit, branching position, leaf blade colour between veins, fruit type and seed size. The fruit-related characters exhibited a large diversity in the genotypes studied. Mature fruit colour was obtained with 8.3% of yellowish green, 23.3% of green and 68.4% of dark green fruits recorded for genotypes. Based on genetic variation, the ultimate objective of vegetable breeding programmes is to generate new varieties exhibiting elite combinations of many desired qualitative attributes in okra using traditional breeding procedures.

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IntroductionOkra (Abelmosclus esculeutus (L.) Moench) an allopolyploidy [12] belongs to the family Malvaceae an important vegetable crop grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Africa, America and temperate regions of Mediterranean basin [7]. In India it is cultivated in 3.76 lakh hectares with annual production of 36.84 lakh tones and average productivity of 9.80 tonnes per hectare [1]. Okra is a self-pollinated crop and it is the cheapest and best vegetable crop [5] and plays a significant role in the rural economies, where it is cultivated, attention needs to be directed to the selection of high yielding cultivars [4] and it has a suitable mechanism to produce hybrid seed at a commercial scale. Hence, exploitation of heterosis has been attempted and hybrid vigour has been reported with as much as 86% increased yield [3]. Combining ability of the parents is becoming increasingly important in plant breeding, especially in hybrids [11]. Information on the general and specific combining abilities will be useful to plan breeders in interpreting the genetic basis of the traits concerned. In this present study, the potential Indian varieties and the exotic genotypes were selected and crossed in dialled fashion. The main objective is to compare the breeding potential of the Indian and exotic line and to identify the superior F1 combination. This in turn will be very much useful in strengthening the ongoing efforts on developing superior F1 cross combinations.