Variability and Interrelationship among Yield and Yield Contributing Characters in Onion (Allium cepa L.)

A study was conducted using seven varieties of onion (Allium cepa L.) and observations were recorded on yield and yield components in order to obtain informations on genetic variability and character association of onion. Higher genotypic coefficients of variations were recorded in number of seeds per scape (NSPS), final plant height (FPH), final scape height , fresh weight of bulb and bulb length. These characters also exhibited high heritability along with high genetic advance as percentage of mean. Phenotypic correlation coefficients showed that bulb length, bulb diameter and scape diameter were positively and significantly correlated with fresh weight of bulb. The number of seeds per scape, final scape height, final plant height and number of pseudostem branches at maximum flowering stage were also positively and significantly correlated with seed yield per scape. Key words: Genetic variations, correlation, yield components, onion. DOI:10.3329/jbs.v16i0.3746 J. bio-sci. 16: 85-88, 2008