Genetic variability and character association in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] core collection

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in fifty seven pigeonpea genotypes to study the variability, correlation and path coefficient in pigeonpea at Department of Pulses, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during kharif, 2015. The highest GCV was recorded for number of secondary branches/plant (111.73) followed by number of pods/plant (40.73). Heritability in broad sense ranged from 94.66 (pod size) to 99.93 (number of pods per plant). High genetic advance were observed for number of secondary branches/plant (230.00), number of pods per plant (83.88), single plant yield (80.89) and number of racemes (60.41) indicating the prevalence of additive gene action for inheritance of these traits. Character association studies indicated that number of racemes, number of secondary branches, number of primary branches per plant, clusters per plant, pods per plant, pod length, seeds per pod, and 100 seed weight were strongly associated with seed yield. Path coefficient analysis revealed that days to 50 per cent flowering and number of pods per plant had high positive direct effect on seed yield. Pod size had moderate direct effect on seed yield. Hence due emphasis should be given on number of pods per plant for improvement of seed yield in pigeonpea.

Exploiting the natural variation and inter-relationship among medium maturity pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan(L.) Millsp.] genotypes

“…This suggested that negligible influence of environment; hence phenotypic would be effective for these traits. These findings were in accordance with the result reported byAlaka et al (2020) andHemavathy et al (2019) for days to 50% flowering and days to maturity. Very little differences of GCV and PCV were observed for days to maturity that means genetic factors played a greater role in the expression of these traits and ample scope for improvement.…”

“…in these characters. These findings are also reported byHussain et al (2021) for secondary branches per plant (28.14) and plant height (22.71),Alaka et al (2020) for secondary branches per plant (76.49) followed by seed yield per plant (45.46),Hemavathy et al (2019) for secondary branches per plant (111.73) followed by pods per plant (40.73) andSingh et al (2014) for plant height and number of branches per plant. Moderate values for GCV and PCV were reported for number of primary branches per plant (12.22 and 13.38%, respectively) followed by number of pods per plant (11.5 and 13.99 %, respectively) and seed yield (10.21 and 10.76 %, respectively) and this showed that environment has played significant role for the expression of these characters.…”

Estimation of genetic variability and character association for development of selection criteria in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh]

“…High estimates of heritability along with high genetic advance in both the year were reported for number of secondary branches per plant and number of pods per plant indicating the presence of additive gene action for these traits and hence selection would be effective for improvement in these traits. High heritability along with high genetic advance as per cent of mean for number of secondary branches per plant and pods per plant were also reported by Bhadru (2010) [10] and Hemavathy et al (2019) [6] .…”

“…Seed yield per plant reported moderate heritability in 2017 while high heritability in 2018. The high estimates of genetic advance as percent of mean (>20%) in both the years for number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of pods per plant earlier by Hemavathy et al (2019) [6] . Moderate estimates (10-20%) of genetic advance as per cent of mean in both the year were reported by days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and 100 seed weight.…”

Genetic analysis and diversity in early duration pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.)MillSp.) genotypes

“…The selection for such traits shows no significance.The relative difference in magnitude between GCV and PCV was very less for all the traits except for single plant yield indicating the lesser influence of environment on the expression of traits. Ranjani et al(2018), Pushpavalli et al (2018) and Hemavathy et al (2019) with high genetic advance as per cent of mean. The high heritability with high genetic advance implies additive gene action and selection for these traits leads to crop improvement.…”