Genetic association for oil yield and its component traits in different Ocimum species

Abstract

The genus Ocimum belonging to family Lamiaceae is a medicinal aromatic plant that produces essential oils used for various aromatic and medicinal purposes. The present study on genetic correlation and path-coefficient was carried out in 20 lines belonging to four different Ocimum species i.e. O. basilicum, O. tenuiflorum, O. gratissimum and O. kilimandscharicum to identify component traits facilitating indirect selection. The yield traits (herb yield, oil content and oil yield) revealed strong genetic association among them exhibiting positive direct path of herb yield (0.729) and oil content (0.532) towards oil yield that were having high positive genetic correlation of 0.792 and 0.726 respectively. All the component traits, except plant height,number of branches/ plant, number of seeds/ inflorescence and canopy spread showed positive association with oil yield and can be used for indirect selection for higher oil yield in Ocimum.

Keywords

• Ocimum
• genetic correlation
• path coefficient analysis
• essential oil yield
• indirect selection.