Abstract
The present investigation was conducted to elucidate the interrelationship among various agronomic and quality traits and their direct and indirect effect on foliage yield in 39 distinct cultivars of vegetable amaranth (A. tricolor). Among the agronomic traits, plant height and number of inflorescence exhibited significant positive association with foliage yield, while chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, fiber and ascorbic acid were positively correlated with foliage yield. Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b exhibited significant positive association with carotenoid, fiber and ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid was positively correlated with fiber and carotenoid. Protein was associated with plant height, branches per plant and 500 seed weight. Chlorophyll a, carotenoid and inflorescence length revealed high positive direct effect on foliage yield, while branches plant-1, leaf size, seed yield, chlorophyll b, moisture content and ascorbic acid showed negative path coefficient with foliage yield. Suitable traits have been marked out to enhance foliage yield in vegetable amaranth.
Highlights
The family Amaranthaceae consists of hardy, weedy, herbaceous, fast growing cereal like plants (Opute 1979)
The experimental material consisted of 39 distinct cultivars of vegetable amaranth (A. tricolor), which are maintained at N.B.R.I., Lucknow, India
Data was recorded from these plants in each replicate for seven quality characters viz. protein content (100 mg g-1), ascorbic acid content (100 mg g-1), chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, fiber content (%), and moisture content (%)
Summary
The family Amaranthaceae consists of hardy, weedy, herbaceous, fast growing cereal like plants (Opute 1979). Vegetable amaranth (A. tricolor) has been rated equal or superior in taste to spinach and is considerably higher in carotenoids (90-200 mg kg-1), protein (14-30% on dry weight basis) and ascorbic acid (about 28 mg 100g-1) (Wu-Leung et al 1968, Makus 1990, Prakash and Pal 1991, Shukla et al 2006b). It is an under exploited plant with promising economic value, which has been recognized by the USA National Academy of Sciences (1984). Based on this information an effective selection program can be proposed for the genetic improvement of the crop
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