Estimation of genetic variability in diverse germplasm of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench.]

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the genetic variability and character association using diverse germplasm of okra grown at the Research Farm of Division of Vegetable Science, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and high genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values indicate existence of ample amount of variability for yield traits among the genotypes. For majority traits, greater but negligible high PCV values than GCV indicate minor environmental influence on traits expression. Moderate to high heritability and genetic advance was observed for important yield traits such as plant height, fruit weight, and number of branch/plant, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield per plant implying involvement of additive gene effects. Significantly high and positive correlations of fruit yield per plant was recorded with fruit weight (0.952**), number of fruits per plant (0.726**), plant height (0.726**), number of nodes on main stem (0.509**) and days to 50% flowering (0.489**). Incidence of YVMV disease at different growth stages of plant showed negative correlation with fruit yield. Furthermore, path analysis results showed positive direct effect of fruit weight (0.062) on fruit yield per plant followed by inter nodal length (0.059), number of fruits per plant (0.035), days to 50% flowering (0.032) and fruit length (0.006). Significant positive correlation and positive direct effect on fruit yield per plant signifies that direct selection for these traits will be effective to evolve high yielding okra varieties