Genetic Variability Studies for Yield and Yield Contributing Traits in Niger (Guizotia abyssinica L. f. Cass)

Author: Pushpa H.D., Sujatha M., Meghana D., Helan Baby Thomas, Chinnappa Reddy A., Hussain Basha, Basamma H., Rajani Bisen and Vishnuvardhan Reddy A.

Download PDF

Abstract

Niger (Guizotia abyssinica L. f. Cass) seed oil is considered to be one of the best edible oils due to its high content of poly unsaturated fatty acid. In India, niger crop is mainly grown by tribals on marginal, unproductive, waste lands under rainfed conditions with minimal inputs. Till now, limited research has been done on understanding the existing genetic diversity in niger germplasm. Thus, the present study was conducted to assess the genetic variability and phylogenetic relationship among 208 niger genotypes based on six major agronomic traits. Results indicated that there is a significant variation (p< 0.05) observed among 208 accessions. Coefficient of variation was highest for seed yield per plant, followed by number of capitula per plant. The difference between phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation is highest for seed yield per plant which implies that this trait is highly influenced by the environment. The maximum variations present among the studied accessions were captured in three principle components and they were grouped in to two clusters.

Keywords

Variability, Genetic diversity, Cluster analysis, Principal components, Niger

Conclusion

The present study on variability analysis concluded that seed yield and number of capitula have high coefficient of variation. Thus, selecting these traits would be effective for transferring characters to next generation. A high difference was observed between PCV and GCV for seed yield, indicating that the direct selection for this trait is not viable. The high heritability for the oil content indicated that direct selection is highly effective for this trait. From the multivariate analysis, it is concluded that 208 niger accessions with five checks are included in two clusters with a cumulative variation of 61.99% indicating to have large variation, revealing that these accessions could be used as trait-specific donors for niger improvement programme.

References

-

How to cite this article

Pushpa H.D., Sujatha M., Meghana D., Helan Baby Thomas, Chinnappa Reddy A., Hussain Basha, Basamma H., Rajani Bisen and Vishnuvardhan Reddy A. (2023). Genetic Variability Studies for Yield and Yield Contributing Traits in Niger (Guizotia abyssinica L. f. Cass). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(3): 618-624.