Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Morphological Diversity Analysis in Brinjal (Solanum melongena) Germplasm

An experiment was conducted at the Division of Vegetable Crops, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, aimed tocharacterize 480 indigenous and exotic brinjal accessions received from the National Genebank, ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi. A lot ofvariability was observed for agro-morphological traits recorded such as mean plant height (88.80 cm), plant spread (53.25 cm),number of primary branches 5.0, leaf length 19.26 cm, leaf width 13.03 cm, days to fifty per cent flowering 50.00, fruit length 11.18 cm,fruit breadth 4.83 cm, number of fruits per plant 14, average fruit weight 80.15 g, yield per plant 1.13 kg and 100 seed weight 0.5 g. ThePrincipal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated 100% of the total variation based on 12 phenotypic traits. There was a significantpositive relationship found among the fruit characters. The majority of the characters studied had high PCV, GCV, heritability, andGAM levels. The brinjal accessions, such as EC316273-X, EC-396492, EC-467275, IC-0090851, IC-0090891-Z, IC-0090858, IC-0090898,EC-384615, IC-0090762, IC-0090774 and IC-090922-X had shown high variability for quantitative characters.

Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources

Genetic Architecture of Yield and Associated Traits in the F₂ Population of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Genetic variability generated through segregation provides an effective opportunity to identify superior recombinants for tomato improvement. The present investigation was conducted using the F₂ population derived from the cross IIHR-2761 × IIHR-2725. The experiment was conducted during Rabi 2025 at the Main Agricultural Research Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. A total of 175 F₂ plants were evaluated for ten quantitative traits associated with growth and yield. Moderate to high variability was observed for most of the traits studied. High PCV was recorded for number of fruits per cluster (22.99%), number of fruits per plant (25.17%) and fruit yield per plant (27.09%), whereas moderate GCV was observed for number of branches per plant (12.69%), number of clusters per plant (12.62%) and fruit yield per plant (19.91%). High broad-sense heritability was observed for plant height (98.39%), days to maturity (93.04%), number of branches per plant (79.49%) and number of clusters per plant (68.45%), while high genetic advance as per cent of the mean was recorded for fruit yield per plant (30.15%), number of branches per plant (23.31%) and number of clusters per plant (21.50%), indicating favourable prospects for selection. Frequency-distribution analysis revealed both positive and negative skewness among the studied traits, suggesting differential gene action governing their inheritance, whereas most traits exhibited platykurtic distributions, indicating polygenic control. Several superior transgressive segregants beyond the mean ±1 SD and mean ±2 SD thresholds were identified for yield and its associated traits, particularly number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield per plant. The identified segregants provide valuable breeding material for developing high-yielding tomato cultivars through selection in advanced generations.

Exploring genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in hybrids of tomato in Trans-Gangetic Plains region

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important vegetable crop valued for its nutritional quality, wide adaptability and economic significance. The present study was conducted to evaluate genetic variability, character association and genetic diversity among tomato accessions for yield and its contributing traits. The experiment was carried out during the spring-summer season of 2020 and 2021 at the experimental field of horticulture, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University. A total of 26 tomato accessions, comprising 6 repatriated genotypes and 20 hybrids developed through a full diallel mating design, were evaluated in a randomised complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications and 15 quantitative and quality-related characters. Significant variation was found among the different germplasms for all characters. Yield and yield contributing characters showed high heritability along with genetic gain, indicating major role of these characters in expression of these characters. Yield per plant exhibited a strong and positive relationship with number of fruits per plant, fruit width, fruit length and mean fruit weight. Path coefficient analysis indicated that the number of fruits per plant and reducing sugar content exerted the highest positive direct influence on yield. Principal component analysis explained 81.70 % of the total variation through five components. Cluster analysis grouped accessions into two major clusters irrespective of geographic origin, indicating wide genetic diversity. Accessions T10 and F1022 were identified as the most divergent and may serve as promising parents for yield improvement in tomato breeding programs.

Study on Genetic Variability for Seed Yield and Morphological Characters in Isabgol (Plantago ovata Forsk)

The present study was carried out at the Main Experiment Station, Horticulture, Department of Horticulture, NDUAT, Kumarganj, Faizabad to evaluate the genetic variability of 42 genotypes of Isabgol. The experiment was laid out during the rabi season (2011-12) in randomized block design replicated twice with the plant spacing 30x10 cm. The findings of the experiment revealed that there was enough variability in the genotypes studied for the characters plant height, numbers of tillers per plant, days taken to first emergence of spike, days taken to 50% flowering, number of spikes per plant, test weight and seed yield per plant. The highest estimates of phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation were observed in seed yield per plant (PCV=26.598, GCV=25.016%) followed by number of spikes per plant (PCV=23.309%, GCV=22.028%), while least in days taken to 50% flowering. All the characters showed high heritability, however days taken to first emergence of spike (99.7%) and test weight (98.9%) had maximum heritability. Higher genetic advance was observed for number of spike (16.427). High heritability associated with high genetic advance in present of mean recorded for days taken to first emergence of spike (h2 =99.7%, GA=7.707). However highest genetic advance in present of mean was observed for seed yield per plant (48.468g).