Response to Mass Selection for Plant Height and Grain Yield in Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.)

Abstract

Two landrace accessions of amaranth, UGG 192 {Amaranthus cruentus) and UCH 213 {A. hypochondriacus), were used in a mass selection experiment; five per cent of the tallest and highest yielding plants in both populations were selected for three cycles. Selection gain was largest in the first cycle for both traits. Realized heritability estimates for plant height were 0.22 in the UCC 192 population and 0.49 in UCH 213, and 0.09 in both populations for yield. The results supported earher findings for the existence of genetic variability withm amaranth landrace populations.

Realizing the potential of grain amaranth

“…At the University of California-Davis, Subodh Jain and colleagues contributed to Downloaded by [Stockholm University Library] at 08:47 05 October 2015 knowledge of the mode of inheritance of a few key traits of grain amaranth by doing gene mapping Jain, 1984, 1985;Jain, Kulakow, and Peters, 1986;Kulakow, Hauptli, and Jain, 1985;Kulakow andJain, 1985, 1987;Vaidya, 1984;Vaidya and Jain, 1987). At the US Department of Agriculture Western Regional Research Center, studies focused on the amino acid content, starch content, and the gross morphology of the seed (Becker et al, 1981;Betschardt et al, 1981).…”

“…The genetic variation within Indian populations of amaranth has been documented (Vaidya, 1984).The mode of inheritance of traits crucial to the development of improved grain amaranth varieties has been documented. Emphasis has been placed on determining the efficacy of different breeding strategies (Ayiecho, 1986;Kulakow and Jain, 1987) and the parameters that serve to increase grain yields (Vaidya and Jain, 1987). In addition, the mode of inheritance of traits such as harvest index, yield per plant, and weight per 1000 seeds has been identified (Pandey, 1984 Amaranth stands to benefit from some of the new techniques of molecular genetics.…”

Genetic resources and breeding approaches for improvement of amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

“…Indian germplasm showed a lot of diversity as documented by researchers ( 163 ). The mode of inheritance of traits was studied in amaranth crop and inheritance was studied for different characters ( 164 , 165 ), including yield parameters ( 166 ). Parameters such as harvest index and grain yield were studied ( 167 ).…”

“…Studies had been conducted to study genetic diversity among Indian populations of amaranth ( 163 ). Different breeding strategies were used to study different parameters in amaranth ( 164 – 166 ).…”