Heritability and phenotypic correlation of traits related to N2-fixation and agronomic traits in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Abstract

Broad-sense heritability is useful information for plant breeders to formulate effective breeding strategies as it provides rough estimates of genetic variability in the breeding materials. The experiment was conducted under field condition in a farmer’s farm following rice harvest in Kalasin province in the Northeast, Thailand during January to May 2000. The objective of this study was to estimate broad-sense heritabilities and correlation coefficients between traits related to N2-fixation and agronomic traits in the F2 generation derived from diallel crosses involving 5 parent lines of peanut. Data were recorded for top dry weight, nodule dry weight, leaf color score, pod weight per plant, seed weight per plant, pod number per plant, seed number per plant, 100-seed weight and shelling percentage. Zero or near zero heritability estimates were found for leaf color score. High heritability estimates were observed for shelling percentage. Heritability estimates for top dry weight were low to high, ranging from 0 to 0.98. Heritability estimates for nodule dry weight, pod dry weight, seed dry weight, pod number per plant, seed number per plant and 100 seed weight were low to moderate. Top dry weight was positively correlated with nodule dry weight, leaf color score, pod dry weight, seed dry weight, pod weight per plant, seed weight per plant and 100-seed weight, but it had significant negative correlation coefficients with shelling percentage. Pod dry weight, seed dry weight, pod number per plant and seed number per plant were positively correlated with each other.

Keywords

• broad-sense heritability
• correlation coefficient