Studies on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench.]

Abstract

The scope of improvement in any crop depends upon the magnitude of genetic variability present in the available germplasm. Therefore, fifty genotypes of okra collected from NBPGR, New Delhi and IIVR, Varanasi were evaluated during kharif 2016-17 to study the variability, heritability and genetic advance for different morphological and agronomic traits. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters studied. The characters like number of branches per plant, fruit yield per plant, width of fruit, number of first fruiting node and length of internode showed high GCV and PCV estimates. The closeness of these parameters indicated the less influence of environment in the expression of characters. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance expressed as percent of mean were observed for yield per plant, width of fruit, number of first fruiting node, number of fruits per plant, length of internode and length of first fruiting node indicating that they are governed by additive genes and could be effectively improved through selection.