Early Maturing Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan L.) Genotypes’ Genetic Progress, Heritability, and Variability Estimation

Author: Namita Borah, Akashi Sarma, Debojit Sarma and Abhilash Bhattacharjee

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Abstract

The experiment was conducted to examine the twenty-one genotypes' morphological variability for yield and earliness. The genotypes comprised nineteen from ICRISAT, Hyderabad, and two from Biswanath Chariali College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University. A randomized block design (RBD) was used with three replications, conducted at ICR Farm, Assam Agricultural University, during the 2018–19 Kharif season. Fourteen quantitative attributes or characteristics were monitored and recorded. Significant heterogeneity was seen in each attribute within the evaluation. High PCV values of the studied traits suggest the role of the environment. The hundred seed weight was found to have the highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation (PCV and GCV), followed by pods per plant, clusters per plant, harvest index, branches per plant, and seed yield per plant. Days to 50% flowering exhibited strong heritability with moderate genetic advance, indicating preponderance additive gene effects. Whilst seeds per pod and branches per plant recorded the lowest heritability coupled with a low genetic advance which suggests the presence of non-additive gene effects. ICP 15011, ICP 14927, ICP 15312, ICP 11610, ICP 11599, ICP 10920, and ICP 11639 are a few early maturing genotypes that demonstrated good performance for most of the significant quantitative attributes, as per the mean genotype performance for yield-related attributing traits. In Assam, most of the varieties are long duration and, therefore winter crops cannot be cultivated as late sowing as it results in poor yield. There is a need to breed for lines with reduced vegetative growth and higher per-day productivity. Hence in the present study, an effort has been made to study morphological variability for earliness and yield in twenty-one pigeon pea genotypes to identify diverse parents for a future breeding program suitable for the agro-climatic conditions of Assam.

Keywords

Cajanus cajan L., Variability, Early maturity, Heritability, Genetic advance, coefficients of variation, Quantitative traits

Conclusion

The genotypes ICP 15011, ICP 14927, ICP 15312, ICP 11610, ICP 11599, ICP 10920, and ICP 11639 performed well for different quantitative characteristics and were also early maturing genotypes. Among them, ICP 15011 showed the highest seed yield and regarding early maturity, ICP 14927 was the earliest maturing genotype.

References

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How to cite this article

Namita Borah, Akashi Sarma, Debojit Sarma and Abhilash Bhattacharjee (2023). Early Maturing Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan L.) Genotypes’ Genetic Progress, Heritability, and Variability Estimation. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(5): 749-754.