Genotypic Variability and Correlation Studies in Pod and Seed Characteristics ofPongamia pinnata(L.) Pierre in Orissa, India

Deebe Prasad Sahoo,Gyana Ranjan Rout,A K Mahapatra,Subhashree Aparajita,Swarnalata Das

doi:10.1155/2011/728985

Abstract

Pongamia pinnata(L.) Pierre is a fast growing leguminous tree with high potential for oil seed production. Fifty-three candidate plus trees (CPTs) ofPongamia pinnatawere selected from different locations in Orissa, India, on the basis of their seed and pod characteristics to identify suitable seed source with high oil content for production of quality planting seedling for use in afforestation programs. All the CPTs showed significant variation among themselves in respect to their pod and seed characters. Phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) estimates were high for pod thickness, seed thickness, 100-pod weight, and 100-seed weight. High heritability values accompanied by high genetic advance for 100-seed weight (96.1%, 59.6) and 100-pod weight (90.9%, 37.3) indicated additive gene action. High estimates of genotypic correlations than the corresponding phenotypic correlations indicated the presence of strong inherent association between pod length and pod breadth; 100-pod weight, and pod thickness; 100-pod weight and seed length; 100-seed weight and 100-pod weight. Seed length, seed breadth, seed thickness, 100-pod weight and 100-seed weight had significant positive correlation with each other, and these characters should be considered as effective parameters to select CPTs for different agroforestry programs.

Highlights

Self-reliance in energy is vital for overall economic development of India and other developing countries
Amongst the many plant species, Pongamia pinnata—a fast growing leguminous tree that has a high potential for high oil seed production and ability to grow on marginal lands—supports its cultivation as a potential biofuel crop for biodiesel industry [1]
They reported that 100-pod weight and 100-seed weight were the important component traits of oil content with high genotypic coefficient variability (GCV) and heritability value in P. pinnata

Summary

Introduction

Self-reliance in energy is vital for overall economic development of India and other developing countries. Selection on the basis of component traits having high genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), high heritability, along with high genetic advance could be more effective to select plants for increasing the oil content of Pongamia pinnata. Extensive survey was conducted in seven populations across three different ecogeographical regions of Orissa, India, for screening and selection of outstanding CPTs (candidate plus trees) of Pongamia pinnata (Table 1).

Results

Conclusion