Abstract
Noug (Guizotia abyssinica) is an outcrossing oilseed crop that serves as a source of edible oil and other nutrients although its seed yield is generally low. The analysis of agro-morphological traits in relation to seed and oil yields is important for improving the productivity of this crop. The present study aimed at assessing the variation and heritability of quantitative (10) and qualitative (6) traits in noug based on 60 landrace accessions collected from wide geographic area in Ethiopia. The field trial was conducted at two sites in Ethiopia using a square lattice design. The analysis of variance revealed significant variation (p < 0.05) among these accessions. The highest broad-sense heritability (H2) was recorded for days to 10% flowering (DTF10; 85.4%), whereas number of capitula per plant (NCPP) and number of seeds per capitulum (NSPC) showed medium heritability (H2 = 38.5% and 31.6%, respectively). NCPP and NSPC showed a highly significant (p < 0.01) positive and negative genotypic correlation with days to flowering, respectively. These three traits showed very low genotypic coefficient of variation (<1%). In the case of qualitative traits, small capitulum, large flower, green leaf, green stem and course leaf margin showed significant association with higher number of seeds per plant (NSPP). Euclidean distance-based cluster analysis revealed that the clustering pattern of the accessions poorly correlates with the geographic distance between sample collecting sites. Similarly, no clear clustering pattern of accessions was revealed by principal component analysis (PCA) that explained 66.3% and 53.6% of the total variation of quantitative traits and qualitative traits, respectively. The oil content of these accessions was previously investigated and accessions with high oil content show large differences in terms of days to flowering, NSPP and thousand seed weight (TSW). Among the accessions included in this research, Hr_B21; Gj_C17, Sh_I4 and Gr_F15 Gj_G18 and Tg-R13 are top ranking, as they have at least one the following highly desirable traits: early maturity, high oil content, NSPP and TSW. Hence, crossbreeding of their selected genotypes would lead to the development of new cultivars that combine early maturity and both high seed and oil yields.
Highlights
Ethiopia is well known as a center of diversity for several crops, including noug (Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass), teff (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter), enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman), Ethiopian mustard
A wide variability was observed for DTF10, DTF50, DTF90, plant height (PH), number of capitula per plant (NCPP) and number of seeds per capitulum (NSPC)
The result of the present study is in agreement with the results reported in Amsalu [29] where low phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) values were recorded for days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, seed yield and thousand seed weight (TSW); and partly in agreement with Bhoite et al [30], who found low PCV and GCV values for DTF50 and PH and high PCV and GCV values for number of primary branches (NPB), NCPP and NSPC
Summary
Ethiopia is well known as a center of diversity for several crops, including noug (Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass), teff (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter), enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman), Ethiopian mustard Noug is an annual diploid (2n = 2x = 30) [1] oilseed crop exhibiting homomorphic type of sporophytic self-incompatibility [2,3]. It is the only cultivated species in the genus Guizotia that belongs to the subtribe Milleriinae of the tribe Heliantheae in the family Compositae [3,4]. In Asia, it is a minor oilseed crop mainly cultivated in India and to some extent in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan Other countries where it is grown as minor crop are the West Indies in the Caribbean and USA [5]. The number of branches per plant show large variation and is usually low when the environmental conditions are unfavorable and plant density is high
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