Genetic variability and correlation analysis in indigenous germplasm of okra (Ablemoschus esculentus L. Moench)

An experiment was undertaken to evaluate the genetic variability, coefficient of variation, heritability, genetic advance and correlation coefficient among indigenous okra accessions based on morphological parameters. Ten okra accessions collected from different parts of Garo Hills regions of Meghalaya were planted during 2019 at NEHU Tura campus, Meghalaya in random block design with three replications. The Analysis of variance exhibited significant differences among the accession for different characters evaluated. The phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV) was predominantly superior to their corresponding genotypic coefficient of variance resulting the role of environmental aspects. A high heritability in relation with high genetic advance as the percentage of mean value was observed for plant height. The Correlation studies between various quantitative characters exhibited significant association between parameters. Plant height, number of fruits per plant showed highly positive significant association with fruit yield per plant both at phenotypic and genotypic level. On the basis of mean performance for fruit yield and its component characters from the present investigation 5 superior okra germplasm lines namely T-4, T-6, T-7, T-8 and T-10 were selected as superior and most promising genotypes for the crop improvement programmed in okra.