Studies on genetic variability and heritability in bulb onion (Allium cepa L.) in the South-Eastern plains of Bihar, India

Abstract

The study was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur during Rabi season 2021-22 with the objective to study genetic variability in onion (Allium cepa L.) for yield and yield attributing traits. The experimental material consisted of 15 onion genotypes from different locations in India. Experimental trial was laid out in a RBD with three replications. Analysis of variance was done by the method suggested by Panse and Sukhatme (1967). The observations were recorded on five randomly selected plants of all genotypes for plant height, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf width, pseudostem length, neck thickness, polar diameter, equatorial diameter, and average bulb weight. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters under study which implied a considerable amount of genetic variability in the genotypes included in the study. The highest average weight of onion bulb was recorded in genotype LC-1 (62.13g) which was statistically at par with LC-2 (58.53g), Patna Red (57.80g), Bhima Shakti (57.28 g) and Agrifound Light Red (56.87g). High PCV and GCV were recorded for pseudostem length and neck thickness. Moderate GCV and PCV were found in leaf width, average bulb weight, plant height, leaf length, equatorial diameter and bulb size index. High heritability along with high genetic advance as percentage of mean was exhibited by all the morphological traits. The genotypes LC-1, LC-2, Patna Red and Bhima Shakti were identified as promising ones for the yield and yield contributing traits.