CORRELATION AND PATH CO-EFFICIENT ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE TRAITS IN OKRA [ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS (L.) MOENCH]

Abstract

A field experiment of correlation and path analysis was undertaken in 60 genotypes (5 checks) of okra for fruit
yield and its quantitative traits, this study assist in identifying the characters which mainly contributing to the fruit
yield. Yield plant-1 had highly significant positive phenotypic correlation with viz., number of fruits plant-1
(0.803), fruit diameter (0.376), fruit length (0.349), number of seeds fruit-1 (0.316), days to maturity (0.301), fruit
weight (0.274) leaf blade width (0.219),100 seed weight (0.219), flower diameter (0.154), fruiting span (0.152),
petiole length (0.151), and stem diameter (0.150). Highly negative non-significant association was observed with
incidence of YVMV (-0.389), days to 50 per cent flowering (-0.319) and node at first flower appears (-0.307) this
correlation study indicated that close interrelationship between genotypic and phenotypic correlation co-efficient
and magnitude of genotypic correlation were higher than their corresponding phenotypic correlation for most of
the traits. Phenotypic path coefficient analysis revealed that traits viz., number of fruits plant-1(0.733) followed by
number of seeds fruit-1 (0.165), number of branches plant-1(0.147), fruit diameter (0.133), fruit weight (0.097),
days to maturity (0.058), fruiting span (0.056), 100 seed weight (0.055), stem diameter (0.027) and plant height
(0.023) have positive and high direct effects with fruit yield per plant. Number of fruits plant-1, fruit diameter, fruit
length, plant height, number of seeds fruit-1, days to maturity, fruit weight, and stem diameter indicating importance
of these characters and can be strategically used to selection criteria to develop and improve high yielding okra
varieties.