Studies on genetic parameters, correlation and path coefficient analysis in cowpea

In the present study, 30 genotypes of cowpea were evaluated during Kharif season, 2017 to assess the genetic variation and inter-relationships among 17 agromorphological characters at Directorate of Farms, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, India. The analysis of variance indicated that the 30 cowpea genotypes showed highly significant differences for all studied characters. The high genotypic coefficient of variation and phenotypic coefficient of variation was observed for biological yield per plant, followed by plant height, harvest index, number of clusters per plant, pod yield per plant, seed yield per plant, number of pods per plant, number of branches per plant, pod weight and days to 50% flowering. Considerable amount of genetic variability was present in the experimental material, which could be exploited for improvement of cowpea. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance for characters xk|., biological yield per plant, followed by plant height, harvest index, number of clusters per plant, seed yield per plant, pod yield per plant, number of branches per plant, pod weight, days to 50% flowering, 100 seed weight, number of seeds per pod, days to maturity and pod length indicated additive gene effects. Hence, simple selection could be effective for further improvement in these characters. Correlation analysis indicated that seed yield per plant exhibited highest and positive significant correlation with pod yield per plant, followed by number of pod per plant, number of clusters per plant, number of pods per cluster, harvest index, number of seeds per pod, number of branches per plant and pod weight. Harvest index, biological yield per plant, pod yield per plant, number of seeds per pod and number of pods per plant reflected high direct and positive effect of on seed yield. If the selection is made for any of these components, the improvement in seed yield could be achieved.