GENETIC DIVERGENCE AND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS IN OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L.)

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the genetic divergence and relationship between yield and yield contributing characters in nineteen genotypes of okra at the experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. The seeds of 19 genotypes of okra were sown in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications during kharif-I season of 2017. Results of analysis of variance indicated that significant differences among the genotypes were found for all the characters observed. The mean performance of the genotypes as the days to 1 st flowering (41.58 days), number of flowers per plant (22.65), fruiting span (56.35 days), plant height (127.23 cm), number of fruits per plant (17.30), fruit length (12.93 cm), individual fruit weight (15.84 g) and fruit yield per plant (279.04 g) were recorded. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was found in flowers per plant, fruits per plant, fruit diameter, individual fruit weight and fruit yield per plant. Such results revealed that these characters were controlled by additive gene action and selection based on these characters will be effective for the improvement of the crop. The correlation analysis revealed that the traits like flowers per plant (0.724), internodes per plant (0.712), fruits per plant (0.935), fruit length (0.708), fruit weight (0.591) and seeds per fruit (0.680) had positive and significant genotypic correlation with fruit yield. The diversity analysis grouped the nineteen genotypes into five different clusters. The cluster IV contains the maximum genotypes (6) and cluster III contains the minimum genotypes (2). Considering genetic variability, diversity and mean performance, genotype G14 and G15 could be selected from cluster IV for earliness whereas genotype G2 and G3 could be selected for more fruit per plant and high yield per plant from cluster III. The highest cluster distance was between cluster I & cluster III and lowest was between cluster IV and cluster V. So, divergent genotypes are recommended to use as parents in future hybridization program from more distant cluster I and cluster III.