Evaluation of variability for yield in okra Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench

An experiment was undertaken on eight F2 segregating population of okra derived from single crosses namely Arka Anamika×Julie, GDO-6×Akola Bahar, Akola Bahar×IC-90201, GDO-6×IC-90201, IC-90222×IC- 90201, Julie×IC-90201, GDO-6×Julie and Akola Bahar×IC-90222 at Main Garden, Department of Horticulture, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola in 2016 kharif season. The data was subjected to analysis of mean and variance to study the differences among eight F2 populations for quantitative traits viz., node at which first flower appeared, days required for first flower, plant height (cm), number of nodes per plant, internodal length (cm), number of branches per plant, fruit length, fruit diameter (cm), number of fruit per plant, fruit yield per plant and average fruit weight Among the eight segregating F2 population, Akola Bahar × IC-90222 showed better mean performance for node at which first flower appeared (6.43), internodal length (4.41 cm) and fruit length (9.16cm). The F2 population GDO-6 x Akola Bahar showed higher mean performance for the trait days required for first flowering (43.21), plant height (239.80), No. of nodes per plant (25.64), No. of fruit per plant (16.54), average fruit weight (8.99 gm) and showed high variance value for node at which first flower appeared (0.79), No. of nodes per plant (11.10), No. of branches per plant (2.78), fruit length (1.03) and fruit yield per plant (655.57). F2 population Arka Anamika x Julie showed higher mean (1.70 cm), (144.14gm) respectively and higher variance for trait No. of fruit per plant and average fruit weight. From above finding, it can be concluded that F2 population GDO-6 X Akola Bahar, Arka Anamika x Julie and Akola bahar X IC-90222 can be used for further improvement of okra crop.