Studies on genetic variability and correlation for fruit yield and fruit quantity characters of okra

Abstract

Okra ( Abelmoschus esculentus ) is a most common vegetable crop cultivated for its tender, nutritive fruits. It is well adopted suitable for cultivation all round the year for providing continuous income to the farmer. An experiment was conducted to study the genetic variability and correlation in okra, involving 40 genotypes for eight important economic characters, namely days to first flowering, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of fruiting nodes, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit weight, fruit yield per plant. High PCV and GCV observed for the traits fruit girth, fruit weight, fruit yield per plant. Majority of the traits recorded high heritability. For fruit weight and fruit yield per plant, high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean were observed. The results indicated the inverse relationship between fruit weight and fruit yield per plant. Fruit yield per plant was positively and significantly correlated with fruit girth, fruit length, number of fruiting nodes, number of branches per plant and plant height, whereas, fruit yield per plant had negative and significant correlation with days to first flowering.