GENETIC VARIABILITY AND CORRELATION STUDIES IN ONION
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Date
2021-09
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present investigation entitled “Genetic variability and correlation studies in onion”
was conducted in 30 onion genotypes, including the check cultivar Nasik Red to find out the
variability, correlations, path coefficient and divergence analysis. The research was carried out at the
experimental farm of the Department of Vegetable Sciences, Dr. YS Parmar University of
Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP) during the Rabi season of 2019-20 and 2020-21. The
experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a plot of size 1.5×1.0m2
with three replications at spacing of 15×10cm. The observations were recorded for different
characters viz., plant height (cm), number of leaves per plant, leaf length (cm), neck thickness (cm),
polar and equatorial diameter (cm), bulb shape index, bulb skin colour, days to 50 per cent neck fall,
days to harvest, dry matter (%), total soluble solids (˚B), doubles/deformed bulb (%), average bulb
weight (g), bulb yield per plot (kg), bulb yield per hectare (q) and disease incidence. All the genotypes
reflected a wide and significant spectrum of variability was found for all the traits studied. UHF-ONI-
13, UHF-ONI-15 and UHF-ONI-16 performed better than all other genotypes for yield and other
imperative horticultural characters. High heritability along with high to moderate genetic gain was
observed for doubles/deformed bulbs, leaf length, plant height, average bulb weight, bulb yield per
plot and bulb yield per hectare which suggests the improvement through simple selection. Bulb yield
had significant and positive correlation with average bulb weight, equatorial diameter, plant height,
neck thickness, leaf length, polar diameter, number of leaves per plant, days to harvest and days to 50
per cent neck fall. Positive direct effect on bulb yield was highest for average bulb weight followed by
equatorial diameter, bulb shape index, neck thickness, total soluble solids, plant height and leaf
length. Based on analysis of genetic divergence, all the genotypes accommodated in 5 clusters and
cluster I accommodated maximum number of genotypes (14) followed by cluster II (8), III (6), IV (1)
and V (1) respectively. The genotypes from cluster III & IV can further be used in hybridization
programmes and in improvement of different horticultural attributes in onion.