Assessment of genetic variability for various yield and yield attributing traits in okra (Abelmoschus esculentusL. Moench) under Kymore Plateau & Satpura hills agro-climatic regions of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Twenty two quantitative characters in 55 diverse exotic and indigenous genotypes of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] collected from NBPGR, New Delhi and 5 standard checks, viz. Phule Utkarsh, Hisar Unnat, VRO-5, VRO-6 and Pusa A4 were evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) during kharif season of 2011 at Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) for estimate of the extent of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in Okra. Significant differences among genotypes were observed for all 22 traits under study. Phenotypic co-efficient variation (PCV) agreed closely with the genotypic co-efficient variation (GCV) but the magnitude of PCV was higher than GCV for almost all the characters studied which reflect the influence of environment on the expression of traits. Higher PCV and GCV values were shown by number of branches plant−1, incidence of YVMV, fruit yield plant−1, number of fruit plant−1 and the reaming traits recorded moderate to low PCV GCV estimates, indicating that selection for these characters will be less effective. All characters studied exhibited moderate to high and very high heritability. However, genetic advance (GA) expressed as percentage of mean was for number of branches plant−1, number of fruit plant−1, incidence of YVMV, and fruit yield plant−1. Charactershowing moderateto highgenetic gain also showedhigh heritability, indicating that the most genetic variation in these characters were due to additive gene effects.