Genetic variability for vegetable traits in pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) Millsp.)

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the genetic variability among sixty four vegetable pigeonpea genotypes for ten quantitative and quality traits. Highly significant differences existed among the genotypes for all the ten characters studied. Phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) were found higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits. High PCV and GCV was observed for total soluble sugars (28.73, 27.94 %) and hundred fresh bean weight (26.54, 25.87 %), respectively. PCV and GCV values were moderate for the traits viz., fresh pod length, fresh pod width, the number of beans per pod, bean length, bean width, protein content and fibre content. High heritability was observed for fresh pod length, fresh pod width, the number of beans per pod, hundred fresh bean weight and total soluble sugars. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for fresh pod length, fresh pod width, hundred fresh bean weight and total soluble sugars indicating the additive gene effect. The genotypes viz., CVPP-20-002, CVPP-20-023, CVPP-20-017, CVPP-20-031, CVPP-20-032 and CVPP-20-061 showed a good performance for quantitative and nutritional traits and were superior over the check varieties. The promising genotypes identified for different vegetable traits could be used in the breeding programme to develop vegetable/dual purpose varieties in pigeonpea.

Keywords

• pigeonpea
• vegetable traits
• nutritional analysis
• genetic variability
• dual purpose pigeonpea