Estimates of Genetic Variability for Seedling Traits in Fluted Pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis Hook. F)

Abstract

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted to evaluate genetic variation among twenty-one fluted pumpkin genotypes for seedling traits. The seeds of the fluted pumpkin were germinated in nursery bags filled with saw dust at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria between July and August, 2013. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with three replications. Characters evaluated were emergence percentage (E%), emergence index, emergence index rate, vine length (cm), leaf area (cm 2 ), number of leaves, shoot dry weight (g), and seedling vigour index (SVI). Significant (P≤0.05) differences were observed among the fluted pumpkin genotypes for the evaluated characters. High E% was observed for genotypes Ftn45 (94.80%), Ftn43 (93.30%), Ftn57 (93.30%), Fte41 (90.0%), Ftn61 (86.70%), and Ftm11 (83.30%). Also, these genotypes had above average values for SVI. High phenotypic coefficients of variation and genotypic coefficients of variation were observed for leaf area (75.44%) and dry shoot weight (55.85%), respectively while heritability estimates above 50% was observed for leaf area (82.0%), dry weight (77.78%), E% (70.84%), and SVI (51.98%). The genetic advance was high for E% (38.37), SVI (38.09), and leaf area. SVI, E%, vine length, and leaf area had significant positive correlation with most of the traits therefore, they can be used as selection criteria in fluted pumpkin. Therefore, genetic improvement of early seedling can be used for selection programme in fluted pumpkin.

Genetic Variability and Character Association for Oil Yield and Its Components in Physic Nut (Jatropha curcas L.)

“…In this study, phenotypic variance was greater than genotypic variance in all the characters for yield parameters. Similar findings were reported in okra [22], in cucumber [24] and in the fluted pumpkin [25]. The high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation observed in number of seeds and seed weight suggests that greater potential might be expected in selection for these characters.The observed high heritability values in number of leaves and seed oil content indicate that the characters were under genetic control and are less influenced by the environment.…”

“…Therefore, improvement by direct phenotypic selection is possible. Whenever a high heritability value is accompanied by high genetic advance, it may be governed by additive gene action and improvement with respect to these characters could be brought about by phenotypic selection [29,25]. Moderate heritability with low genetic advance was observed for some characters in this study.…”

“…Significant and positive correlation between two characters suggests that these characters can be improved simultaneously in a selection programme [28,25]. This is because it shows mutual relationships among characters and selection for one will translate to selection of the other [25]. For the improvement of oil yield in this crop, it was necessary to determine the magnitude and the direction of relationship between the oil yield and its components.…”

Variability in Yield and Yield Components of Selected Pro-vitamin A Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties in a Humid Environment of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…The phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficients of variation for all corresponding characters in this study, indicating the contribution of the environment in the expression of these characters. Higher phenotypic coefficient of variation has been reported in maize [35,20] and other crops like soybean [36], fluted pumpkin [37], rice [38][39][40], barley [41] and African eggplant [42].…”

INTERACTION EFFECTS OF SEASONS AND FARMING PRACTICES ON CORRELATION AND PATH ANALYSIS OF YIELD OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L.)

“…Other reports also indicated an association among fruit yield of cucumber, fruit length, and girth. Significant and positive correlation between two characters usually suggests that they can be improved simultaneously and that improvement in one will influence the other [7]. In addition, it was found that fruit yield of cucumber correlated with fruit weight (0.565) and a number of fruits plant -1 (0.457) [8].…”