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The present research was conducted to examine different parameters of variability, correlations, and path coefficients associated with yield and yield-related traits in aerobic rice. The analysis of variance indicated noteworthy variations among the genotypes for all the traits investigated. Among them, flag leaf area and alkali spreading value showed high PCV and GCV. Except for days to fifty per cent flowering, days to maturity, and amylose content, the remaining traits demonstrated substantial heritability combined with high genetic advance as percentage of mean. The correlation analysis revealed significant positive association between grain yield per plant and several traits, namely effective tillers per plant, test weight, chlorophyll content, and length breadth ratio. Traits such as test weight, effective tillers per plant, and flag leaf area showed a positive direct effect on grain yield per plant. Therefore, it is crucial to give priority to traits that exhibit significant positive correlations and substantial direct effects during selection process. This approach will yield rewarding results in the development of high-yielding cultivars suitable for aerobic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lentil is one of the most significant pulse crops, frequently referred to as "poor man's meat" because of its high protein content and inexpensive price. The present study was assessed for eleven morphological and yield variables to determine genetic variability, correlation and path co-efficients. Methods: The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design using 56 different homogeneous progenies of a spontaneous mutant of lentil variety DPL 62 and four control varieties in triple replica during rabi 2017-18. Result: Significant amount of variability was observed for all the traits. High phenotypic coefficients of variance and genotypic coefficients of variance coupled with high heritability and genetic advance were observed for peduncle length, number of pods per plant, seed width, seed yield per plant suggesting that these traits are genetically controlled by additive gene action. Seed yield per plant exhibited significant positive association with number of branches/plant and number of pods/plant while number of pods/plant revealed highest positive direct effect on seed yield per plant followed by 100-seed weight, number of branches per plant, days to maturity and leaflet breadth. Therefore, selection for these characters will directly lead to improvement in the yielding ability of lentil genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourty-eight ashwagandha [Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal] genotypes were studied for the genetic variability, heritability and trait association during 2018-19 based on 13 yield and quality traits. For all the 13 characters studied, highly significant (P < 0.01) differences were observed. Parameters such as withanolides, dry root yield per plant and crude fibre recorded higher estimates for GCV and PCV. High broad sense heritability and genetic advance were recorded for number of primary and secondary branches, number of berries, root length, number of secondary roots, fresh and dry root yield, starch, crude fibre and withanolides. These proved to be promising traits that would respond to selection of better genotypes owing to their high transmissibility and genetic variability. Character association study indicated that dry root yield had positive and significant association with the number of primary and secondary roots, fresh root yield and withanolides at both genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path analysis revealed that number of secondary roots and withanolides were major traits having high positive, direct effect and significant association with dry root yield. Hence, these traits would be quite effective when selected to improve dry root yield in ashwagandha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunflower production can be increased by exploring genetic variability present in the population. The nature of relationship between yield and its associated traits should be clearly understood to achieve parallel improvement of yield by indirect selection of beneficial traits. In the present study, 50 sunflower accessions along with five checks were evaluated for nine biometrical traits viz. days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, head diameter, hundred seed weight, volume weight, hull content, oil content and single plant yield to assess the variability and character association. The analysis of variance revealed the presence of significant variation among the genotypes for all the traits under consideration. Phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation values were high for hundred seed weight and single plant yield. High heritability along with high genetic advance was observed for the traits viz. days to 50% flowering, plant height, head diameter, volume weight, oil content, hundred seed weight and single plant yield. Correlation studies revealed the presence of a positive and significant correlation between single plant yield and the traits head diameter and hundred seed weight. Similarly, oil content exhibited a positive and significant correlation with head diameter and volume weight. Path analysis also indicated the presence of high and moderate positive direct effect of head diameter and hundred seed weight on single plant yield. Based on the above, head diameter and hundred seed weight could be used as selection indices for yield improvement in sunflower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to evaluate the genetic variability, character association and path coefficient for various quantitative traits in fifty rice genotypes comprising of landraces and varieties under water limited conditions. Drought being a major abiotic stress causes severe reduction in grain yield especially during reproductive stages. The results revealed the presence of high genetic variability and significance for all the traits studied. The traits like single plant yield, number of filled spikelets per panicle, number of productive tillers per plant, flag leaf length, leaf rolling and leaf drying showed high variability compared to all other traits. The traits viz., spikelet fertility, number of productive tillers per plant, number of total tillers per plant, plant height, flag leaf breadth, panicle length, number of filled spikelets per panicle and relative water content exhibited a significant and positive correlation and direct effect on single plant yield, suggesting the potential importance of these traits in the improvement and selection of stable and high-yielding rice genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment was undertaken to study the variability, trait association and principle component analysis among eighteen characters in 53 rice genotypes including landraces and cultivars. Higher estimates of GCV and PCV coupled with high heritability and GAM were observed for a number of filled grains per panicle followed by a number of spikelets per panicle and single plant yield indicated that these traits could be utilised for selection in rice improvement. Study of association of yield attributing traits revealed that the single plant yield had a significant positive association with the total number of spikelets per plant, number of filled grains per plant and number of primary branches per plant and had a significant negative association with the length of the primary branches. Hence, direct selection of positively associated characters can improve the grain yield and increased primary branch length reduces the number of primary and secondary branches that might lead to a reduction in yield. Path coefficient analysis showed that the number of spikelets per panicle, primary branches per plant and length of secondary branches had a positive direct effect on yield. Therefore, giving weightage during selection to the above the mentioned traits could improve the yield and yield attributes. The principal component analysis showed that out of 18 traits studied, only eight principal components (PCs) had Eigen values greater than 1.00 and accounted for approximately 80.18% of the total cumulative variability. Single plant yield, number of fertile spikelets and total number of spikelets per plant and number of tillers showed maximum vector length confirming that the maximum contribution to the total diversity and the genotypes with the above characters could be utilized as donors to improve the yield and its attributing traits in future breeding programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was carried out to understand the genetic variability and trait association in a set of 30 naturally coloured cotton hybrids along with their parents (five colour cotton and six white cotton parents). The Analysis of Variance revealed the significance of the mean square for most of the traits studied. The phenotypic coefficient of variation was more than that of the genotypic coefficient of variation for all the traits. High PCV and GCV were recorded for the traits number of monopodia and single plant yield. The heritability and genetic advance as percentage of mean (GAM) were high for the traits plant height, number of monopodia, number of bolls per plant, single boll weight, bundle strength, fibre fineness and single plant yield. The Number of sympodia, number of bolls per plant and boll weight were observed to have significant genotypic and phenotypic correlation with single plant yield, while upper half mean length was observed to have significant genotypic and phenotypic correlation with bundle strength and fibreelongation. Path analysis revealed that seed index and ginning out turn recorded very high direct effect with single plant yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding genetic variability patterns of turmeric yield traits is essential to develop new genotypes with improved traits. The objective of the present study was to investigate the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and association of various yield components in turmeric genotypes. The experiment was conducted for two seasons during 2021-22 and 2022-23 using 21 turmeric genotypes at ICAR-IISR, Experimental farm, Peruvannamuzhi, Kerala. The results indicate that the genotypes exhibited significant variation across two seasons for most traits, with the exception of collar girth, weight of primary rhizomes per clump, and number of primary rhizomes per clump, which suggests the presence of genetic variability in the genotypes. Maximum fresh rhizome yield per clump was recorded in the genotype, IISR Pragati. The Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV) was found to be moderate to high for most of the traits except plant height, leaf lamina length, collar girth and fresh rhizome yield per plant, whereas, Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV) was found to be moderate to high for all the traits except plant height. Heritability was observed moderate to high for all the traits except collar girth, number of primaries per clump, weight of primary rhizomes per clump and fresh rhizome yield per plant. The petiole length, total leaf area, weight of mother rhizomes per clump and number of mother rhizomes per clump showed high heritability along with genetic advance. Correlation analysis suggested that weight of mother rhizomes per clump had a strong positive association with plant height, number of leaves, leaf lamina length, leaf lamina width, leaf area, total leaf area, and collar girth and had a weak positive relationship with fresh rhizome yield per plant and petiole length. The path analysis revealed, total leaf area, fresh rhizome yield per plant and number of primaries per clump have high direct positive effects with weight of mother rhizomes per clump. The high heritability and genetic advance observed for above mentioned traits suggest that exercising a simple selection could indirectly improve the low heritable, low genetic advance traits such as fresh rhizome yield per plant as indicated by correlation and path analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was carried out to assess the genetic variability and association among yield attributing traits in 60 different safflower genotypes over six environments. The pooled analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that all attributes had a considerable degree of variation. The pooled analysis of variability parameters revealed that the phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic coefficients of variation (GCV)for all of the characteristics evaluated, indicating that experimental variance contributed to total variation. Petal yield/plant and seed yield/plant had the highest PCV and GCV followed by number of capitula/plant, number of seeds/capitula, height of insertion of first branch, hundred seed weight, number of primary branches/plant, length of longest primary branches, number of secondary branches and height up to main capitula. Number of capitula/plant, seed yield/plant, petal yield/plant, height of insertion of first branch, number of seeds per capitula, hundred seed weight, number of primary branches/plant, length of the longest primary branches, number of secondary branches, height upto main capitula, capitulum diameter and plant height all had high heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean. Seedyield/plant showed positive, significant and directcorrelation with number of capitula/plant, number of seeds/capitulum, height up to the main capitulum, plant height, number of primary branches/plant, capitulum diameter, and hundred seed weight. Number of capitula/planthad the maximum direct effect on grain yield/plant followed by number of seeds/capitulum, hundred seed weight and petal yield/plant. Hence selection of these traits would improve seed and petal yield in safflower breeding program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight parents and the 28 crosses of Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss.) in two segregating generations, viz., F2 and F3 were studied for their genetic variability during the rabi seasons of 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively. Observations were recorded for six morphological characters such as plant height (cm), primary branches per plant, secondary branches per plant, siliquae per plant, 1000 seed weight (g) and seed yield per plant (g). The PCV was found to be greater than the GCV and the difference between them was high in all the characters in both F2 and F3 generations. Most of the characters revealed a medium range of GCV and PCV. Moderate heritability was expressed by all the characters except primary branches per plant in F3 generation. The Genetic Advance as a percentage of Mean (GAM) was higher in most characters except in plant height. The character plant height was found to be positively correlated with seed yield per plant in both F2 and F3 generations, with secondary branches per plant in the F3 generation and negatively correlated with primary branches per plant in F3 generation. A high direct effect on seed yield per plant was exhibited by plant height and 1000 seed weight in both F2 and F3 generations and by Secondary branches per plant in the F2 generation and Siliquae per plant in the F3 generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-seven genotypes of coriander including six check varieties were analyzed for variability, correlation, path coefficients, and genetic divergence. Genotypes were grown in RBD with three replications and observations were recorded for 13 different quantitative traits. Secondary branches per plant and total oil content confirmed high values of GCV and PCV. Seeds per umbel, test weight, and total oil content exhibited high heritability along with high GA (% of mean). Both genotypically and phenotypically, seed yield per plant exhibited a positive and significant association with umbels per plant, umbellates per umbel, test weight, and harvest index. On seed yield per plant, umbels per plant reported the highest positive direct effect. Genetic diversity analysis grouped the 37 coriander genotypes into 6 different clusters with the maximum inter-cluster distance seen between clusters III and VI. Among the thirteen traits, test weight contributed largely to the total genetic divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty two genotypes of Indian bean were examined for the genetic variability parameters and trait correlation for 11 yield contributing traits in F5 progenies. Analysis revealed that these genotypes had a considerable level of diversity. The magnitude of GCV and PCV was high for seed yield per plant, which indicated the potential for selection based genetic enhancement. The GCV and PCV values were moderate for pod weight, pods width and pod length. High heritability along with high genetic advance as per cent mean was recorded for pod width, pod length, pod weight and seed yield per plant. The seed yield per plant had a significant positive correlation with pod weight, plant height, pod length, pod width and seeds per pod. The overall genotypic path analysis revealed that racemes per plant exhibited the highest positive direct effects on seed yield per plant followed by direct effects of pod length, pods per raceme, pod width and pod weight. Therefore, simple selection is advised for pod length, pod width and pod weight to boost the yield of the Indian bean. Based on mean values, the progenies W-19-26, W-19-22 and W-19-25 of GNIB-21 × GP-167 among all crosses had shown significantly higher seed yield over the check varieties GNIB-21 and GNIB-22 and hence identified as elite genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selection criteria is very crucial to pick up promising genotypes in a breeding program. An experiment was conducted with twenty soybean genotypes following a randomized complete block design to study the inheritable agronomic traits, their interrelation and partitioning of genotypic correlation into direct and indirect effects to identify the traits responsible for higher seed yield. Results indicated that phenotypic variance was higher than that of genotypic variance for all the characters. The highest PCV was found for the trait seed yield per plant (39.03%) followed by yield per plot (32.85%). The higher GCV was also found for the same traits-seed yield per plant (37.36%), yield per plot (27.23%). PCV and GCV was the lowest for trait days to maturity (6.28%, 4.16%) and days to flowering (3.20%, 2.24%). Estimated broad sense heritability was ranged from days to flowering (44.05%) to seed yield per plant (91.62%). Higher estimate of heritability was also observed for yield per plot (88.65%) followed by hundred seed weight (85.39%) whereas; heritability was moderate for plant height (76.75%) and pod per plant (70.17%). The genetic advance was the highest for plant height (19.39%). On the other hand, primary branch per plant, days to flowering and days to maturity showed low heritability with low GA depicts the influence of non-additive gene effect. Pod per plant, hundred seed weight, days to maturity and plant height is positively and significantly correlated with yield. Pod per plant (0.908) and hundred seed weight (0.907) showed highest direct positive effect on seed yield at genotypic level. Path analysis also confirmed highest positive direct effect of hundred seed weight (0.701). So, the present study suggests that, higher hundred seed weight and pod per plant can be effective selection measure for improvement of soybean yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was undertaken to evaluate the variability and performance of thirty horsegram genotypes collected from various regions of Kerala and outside for yield and yield attributing characters. Analysis of variance was carried out based on the recorded observations, and it showed significant differences among the 30 genotypes for all the fifteen characters studied. Most of the traits exhibited narrow differences between PCV and GCV except for seeds per pod, the number of primary branches per plant and yield per plant. Yield per plant was found to be significant and positively correlated to primary and the number of secondary branches per plant, nodes per plant, pod number per plant, seeds per pod and 100 seed weight both at phenotypic and genotypic levels. Path analysis revealed that pod number per plant, seeds per pod, nodes per plant, 100 seed weight and days to maturity were the major yield contributing characters owing to their favorable direct effect on yield per plant. Genetic diversity studies using Mahalanobis' D² statistics assembled the 30 genotypes into eight clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted with 39 rice genotypes to screen for salt tolerance and evaluate potential variation among the genotypes under sodic conditions. All the 39 rice genotypes along with two check varieties (TRY2 & TRY5) were screened in vitro for salt tolerance by imposing 100 mM NaHCO3 at the seedling stage under hydroponics and a salt injury score was given based on morphological symptoms. Observations on 12 biometrical traits were recorded under field sodic conditions and subjected to variability analysis. The ANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference for the 11 traits among the genotypes except for flag leaf breadth. Among the genotypes, the highest single plant yield was recorded by RG 50 (36.83 g). A correlation study revealed that, single plant yield exhibited significant and positive genotypic and phenotypic relation with panicle harvest index, the number of grains per panicle and panicle length. Path analysis showed that the traits viz., panicle harvest index, plant height and panicle length had a very high and positive direct effect on single plant yield. The traits viz., flag leaf breadth, SPAD meter reading and number of productive tillers per plant had a high and positive direct effect on single plant yield. In vitro studies revealed that the genotype RG113 was found to be highly tolerant to salt stress and it also showed a significantly higher yield (35.42 g) under field sodicity. The genotypes RG22, RG150, RG162 and RG188 which showed tolerance under in vitro screening and the moderately tolerant genotypes RG26, RG50, RG95, RG107, RG123 and RG176 were exhibiting significant yield under field sodicity conditions. Therefore, in order to breed for high yielding salt-tolerant rice varieties, the identified genotypes could be exploited as donor genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred upland cotton germplasm accessions were evaluated for eight traits to evaluate the per se performance, genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance as a per cent of mean, correlation and path analysis. The estimation of variability indicated that the number of monopodia per plant had high GCV and PCV. High heritability along with high GAM was found in plant height, internode length, the number of monopodia per plant, the number of sympodia per plant, the number of bolls per plant and seed cotton yield per plant which suggested that additive gene activity had a significant influence in the inheritance of these traits. Correlation analysis showed that the number of sympodia per plant, the number of bolls per plant and boll weight have a significant high positive correlation on the seed cotton yield. Path analysis showed that the number of bolls per plant and boll weight had the highest positive direct effect on seed cotton yield per plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to figure out genetic variability, correlation and path co-coefficients for seven traits in 42 F3 families of the cross Azucena/CB 87R*1 aimed for developing new restorer lines with indica tropical japonica background for their utilization in a hybrid program. The population exhibited high PCV and GCV for the traits viz., the number of productive tillers per plant, panicle weight and single plant yield. For the same traits, high heritability combined with high GAM was also deduced. The traits panicle weight, the number of productive tillers per plant, panicle length, flag leaf length and flag leaf width showed positive and significant associations with single plant yield. Though the traits panicle weight and the number of productive tillers were negatively correlated, they both exerted a high direct effect on single plant yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two BC1 F2 populations derived from the cross CO 52 x 3-11-11-2 were evaluated in the present study for fifteen yields, yield contributing characters and quality characters to assess genetic variability, correlation coefficient and path coefficient analyses. Single plant yield, number of productive tillers per plant and alkali spreading value all had higher estimates of PCV and GCV. The high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as a percentage of mean was observed for traits viz., volume expansion ratio, single plant yield and plant height. In both the backcross population, a high positive correlation was observed between single plant yield and the traits such as the number of productive tillers and days to first flowering. In the case of direct effects, the number of productive tillers and kernel length after cooking played almost higher positive effects in the backcross population I, while in the population II, the number of productive tillers, kernel breadth before cooking, kernel length after cooking and breadthwise elongation ratio ensured the highest direct effect over the single plant yield. Thus, the number of productive tillers per plant can be considered as a key trait in the selection process and can be strategically used for yield improvement programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was carried out to determine the genetic variability parameters and character associations for eleven quantitative traits in Indian bean genotypes. It revealed a significant amount of variability present among these genotypes. Seed yield per plant had high Genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and Phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values, showing the potential for improvement by selection. Racemes per plant, pods per raceme, pods per plant, and pod weight had moderate GCV and PCV values. There was high heritability combined with a high genetic advance for pod weight and seed yield per plant. Plant height, pods per plant, and pod weight were significantly and positively associated with seed yield per plant. Pods per plant had the most positive direct effect on seed yield per plant, followed by racemes per plant, plant height, pod weight, pod length, and seeds per pod. Therefore, selection for such traits is advised to bring about improvement in Indian beans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greengram (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) is one of the highly consumed legumes and has the ability to withstand wide environmental conditions. Sixty greengram genotypes were evaluated for genetic relatedness with 11 quantitative traits viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, plant height, the number of primary branches per plant, the number of clusters per plant, the number of pods per cluster, the number of pods per plant, the number of seeds per pod, pod length, hundred seed weight and single plant yield. The data were subjected to variability, genetic advance, heritability, correlation and path analysis. In this study, the phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation was found to be high for the number of clusters per pod and the number of pods per plant. High heritability was noticed for single plant yield, plant height and hundred seed weight. The genetic advance was found to be very high for the number of pods per plant. Association studies revealed that the single plant yield was significantly correlated with the number of pods per plant (0.75) followed by the number of pods per cluster (0.60), the number of clusters per plant (0.58) and the number of seeds per pod (0.49). The direct and positive effect was recorded for the traits viz., days to maturity (1.44), the number of pods per cluster (0.67), pod length (0.46) and plant height (0.24). Phenotypic selection of traits contributing to grain yield exhibiting high heritability and genetic advance would help in the selection of superior genotypes for the improvement of grain yield in greengram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment was conducted at the National Pulses Research Centre, Vamban, during Kharif 2020. F2 generation of four crosses was utilized in this study. Around 150-200 single plants per cross were used for observation. The traits viz., plant height, number of branches per plant, number of cluster per plant, number of pods per cluster, number of pods per plant, 100 - seed weight and seed yield per plant recorded high PCV, GCV, high heritability along with high genetic advance as per cent of the mean. It indicated that these traits were less influenced by the environment and possessed high genetic variability. Also, these traits had a positive and significant correlation with seed yield in most of the crosses. The trait number pods per plant recorded positive and high direct effects on seed yield. Hence, based on correlation and path analyses, the number of pods per plant can be considered as a selection index for seed yield improvement programme in blackgram. However, population-specific selection indices are preferred as the association of traits varies with the populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research was aimed for estimation of variability parameters, heritability, genetic advance, skewness, kurtosis, association and path coefficient analysis for twelve traits using F2 population attained from the cross ADT (R) 48 x Kavuni. High GCV and PCV, higher range of heritability adjoined with eminent genetic advance as per cent of mean besides significant positive skewness for the characters namely; the number of tillers per plant, the number of productive tillers per plant, the number of grains per panicle, the number of filled grains per panicle and single plant yield was observed indicating the predominance of cumulative gene effect and an effective selection. High positive direct impact with strong positive correlation on single plant yield was observed in the traits, the number of tillers per plant and the number of filled grains per panicle perhaps to be considered as useful traits in yield improvement. The information obtained from the current study may be advantageous in the selection and for the advancement of yield in future rice breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to evaluate the genetic variability parameters, correlation and path coefficient analysis for eight yield related traits in segregating F2 population of an aerobic restorer AR 9-18 × YPK 198 (Donor for yield enhancing genes Gn1a and OsSPL14) at ICAR-IIRR, Hyderabad during the kharif, 2019. The results indicated that, productive tiller number, grain number per panicle and plant yield showed high PCV and GCV. Height of plant, productive tiller number, grain number per panicle and plant yield exhibited a high heritability and also high genetic advance as per cent of mean which indicates simple selection would be effective for enhancement of these traits. Correlation studies indicated that plant yield was associated significantly positive with height of plant, productive tiller number, length of panicle and grain number per panicle. High positive direct effect on plant yield was recorded by productive tiller number, grain number per panicle and height of plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorghum is a universal crop grown for its diversified end uses. A total of 250 plants of F2 generation were evaluated for nine quantitative characters of cross made between Paiyur 2 and Kottathur local 5. The minimum difference was observed between the phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation for all the traits which reveals that the effect of environment was minimum on the expression of the character. High PCV was observed for plant height (20.36%), test weight (23.59%), and single plant yield (44.52%). Low PCV was observed for days to fifty percent flowering (9.80%), days to maturity (6.54%) and number of leaves (7.14%). High heritability accompanied with genetic advance was observed for plant height (h²=99.03%; GAPM=41.55%), leaf length (h²=97.87%; GAPM=23.70%), stem diameter (h²=94.49%; GAPM=27.36%), test weight (h²=99.03%; GAPM=48.13%), and single plant yield (h²=99.57%; GAPM=91.33%) and it indicates that the characters are under the additive gene action and suitable for the selection process. Plant height (0.6115) recorded positive significant correlation with single plant yield and hence selection towards the plant height directly improves the yield. Plant height (0.6132) and test weight (0.297) showed positive direct effect on single plant yield which indicates that the selection towards these characters will improve the yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]