Genetic variability and association of yield with its component traits in Okra

Forty four accessions from 6 different wild Abelmoschus species and 4 check cultivars from cultivated species were evaluated during Kharif 2015 to assess the genetic variability and character association. Estimates of genotypic coefficients of variability (GCV) and phenotypic coefficients of variability (PCV) ranged from 6.15–59.14 and 13.98–62.13, respectively. Heritability in broad sense (h2), genetic advance (GA) and genetic advance as percentage of mean (GAM) ranged from 19–98%, 0.40–84.20, 5.58–98%, respectively. Further classification revealed high GCV (>20.00%), heritability (>60.00%) and GAM (>20.00%) for most of the yield components and PDI of BYVMV, except for first flowering node and stem diameter. Path co-efficient analysis revealed high positive direct effect of fruit weight (0.85), number of fruits per plant (0.532), stem diameter (0.088), plant height (0.069) and fruit diameter (0.046) on fruit yield per plant. Therefore, direct selection based on these combinations of traits will help in harnessing their positive direct effects on yield per plant in okra improvement programmes.