Genetic association, divergence and genotype × environment interaction in Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.)

Abstract

Ten elite lines of Jatropha curcas (L.) were evaluated consecutively for three years at CRIDA, Hyderabad, with the main objectives being to select superior plants with high seed and oil yields and to study variations in agro-morphological, seed and oil yield characteristics and cluster them into different groups. Analysis of variance shows that all traits had significant variation among elite lines. The broad sense heritability was high for all traits across years indicating that these traits were mainly controlled by genetic factors as compared to environmental components, although the environment played an important role in expression of these traits. The correlations between seed yield per plant was positively and highly significantly correlated with oil yield, pod weight, and pods per plant. Cluster analysis based on agro-morphological data divided the Jatropha lines into three clusters through average linkage clustering. Clusters I, II, and III consisted of five, one, and four lines, respectively. Highly significant genotypic differences were obtained among the Jatropha populations for various traits measured, and significant genotype × environment interaction was observed for all traits. The large variation among Jatropha lines indicated that these materials could be used in breeding programs for further improvement.