Variation in seed and seedling traits of Robinia pseudoacacia Linn. in North Kashmir Himalayas

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Date
2022
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SKUAST Kashmir
Abstract
The present investigation entitled “Variation in seed and seedling traits of Robinia pseudoacacia Linn. in North Kashmir Himalayas” was conducted in the experimental field of Division of Forest Biology & Tree Improvement of the Faculty of Forestry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Benhama, Ganderbal during the year 2020-2021. Seeds were collected from nine seed sources of Kashmir valley. From each source mature pods were collected from four seed bearing mother trees, located about 100 m apart from each other in the month of September, 2020. The evaluation of the seeds collected from different seed sources has carried out in the laboratory for pod and seed traits. To study the extent and pattern of variation with respect to growth and biomass characters, the seeds were subsequently sown in the nursery field of Division of Forest Biology and Tree Improvement, Faculty of Forestry, SKUAST-K, Benhama, Ganderbal. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the seed, pod, growth and biomass characters thus exhibiting more variability. Site second (S2, Palhallan Pattan/ District Baramulla) exhibited outstanding performance for the pod and seed traits (seed length 4.42 mm, pod length 72.66 mm) followed by S5 (Chewa /District Bandipora) and S4 (Sumbal Tangpora/ District Bandipora), whereas, S8 (Potushai Lolab/District Kupwara) showed the lowest values for these characters. Trees Sherabad Khore –T2, Palhallan Pattan -T4, Kunzer Tangmarg-T3, Sumbal Tangpora-T2, Chewa Bandipora-T4, Kanibathy Bediyaar-T4, Nutnusa Kupwara-T2, Potushai Lolab -T4 and Watyan Chandigam-T4 were found to be better within sites for the pod and seed traits. For the growth and biomass characters Site five (S5, Chewa/District Bandipora) exhibited outstanding performance followed by S1 (Sherabad Khore/District Baramulla) and S4 (Sumbal Tangpora/ District Bandipora), whereas S8 (Potushai Lolab/District Kupwara) showed the lowest values for these characters. Within trees Sherabad Khore -T1, Palhallan Pattan -T4, Kunzer Tangmarg-T3, Sumbal Tangpora-T4, Chewa Bandipora-T4, Kanibathy Bediyaar-T2, Nutnusa Kupwara-T2, Potushai Lolab -T1 and Watyan Chandigam-T3 were found to be better within sites for the growth and biomass characters. High heritability with moderate genetic gain was observed for seed weight (0.95), followed by pod length (0.91) and number of seeds per pod (0.88), among pod and seed traits. While as seed width recorded the minimum heritability. Among growth and biomass characters high heritability and high genetic gain was recorded in number of leaves (0.57), followed by shoot dry weight (0.46) and seed germination (0.43). While as total dry biomass recorded the minimum heritability. Highly significant and positive genotypic and significant positive phenotypic correlation were observed for pod width with seed length, seed weight with seed germination, pod length with seed length, seed germination with root shoot ratio, total fresh biomass with sturdiness, seed germination with total dry biomass, Number of leaves with total dry biomass, number of branches with Dicksons quality index. In principal component analysis for pod and seed traits, four out of seven components had eigen value greater than unity and they contributed (80.88 %) of total variation and for growth and biomass characters six out of sixteen components contributed (78.78%) of total variation. The genotypes presented in cluster first and secound were separated from the rest of the genotypes giving information about its most diverse nature for pod, seed, growth and biomass characters. These progenies are highly diverse and should be used for hybridization and improvement programmes.
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Keywords
Robinia pseudoacacia, Source variation in pod and seed traits, Variation between trees, Variation in growth and biomass characters, Forest Biology and Tree Improvement, Forestry
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