Exploration, germplasm collection and evaluation in Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Del.
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Date
2017
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CCSHAU
Abstract
The ecological, social and economic importance of Acacia nilotica and decline of its population in its
natural habitat promoted the present study. Based on an intensive survey sixty trees were selected from
natural populations of six different provenances viz. Firozpur, Roopnagar, Sonipat, Dausa, Nagaur and
Hanumangarh. Quality pods/seeds were collected from individual selected tree and subsequently
studied for pod/seed morphological characters, progeny testing and seed storability. The wide range of
variation in different morphological characters viz. total tree height, diameter at breast height, clear
bole height, crown diameter and straightness from selected trees was observed. Similarly, a substantial
variation in pod and seed characters was recorded. Among different provenances, collected pods/seeds
from Dausa provenances had maximum average value for pod length (15.08 cm), number of seeds per
pod (11.21), seed length (8.01 mm), seed width (7.01 mm), seed thickness (3.97 mm) and seed weight
(17.27). However, minimum values for above traits were recorded in Firozpur provenance. The GCV
ranged from 1.29 (seed length) to 10.81 percent (seed weight). Highest value of heritability (78.06 %)
coupled with moderate genetic advance (19.67 %) was observed for seed weight. Genotypic and
phenotypic correlations studies revealed significantly positive association among pod and seed traits. In
progeny testing, the seeds from accession RH7 from Hanumangarh provenance showed highest field
emergence (78 %). While, the progenies of accession RD5 from Dausa showed maximum shoot length
(202.70 cm) and root length (129.00 cm) at the age of 12 months in the nursery. The dendrogram based
on Euclidean distances grouped all the 60 progenies from selected trees into seven clusters. The inter
cluster distance was found maximum (6.059) between Clusters II and V. Therefore, hybridization
between the genotypes from these clusters is expected to yield heterotic crossbreeds. The magnitude of
PCV was higher than the corresponding GCV for all the growth characters of the progenies from
selected trees under study. High heritability (in broad sense) coupled with moderate genetic advance
was found for percent germination, root length, straightness and numbers of branches per plant. Shoot
length showed positive correlations with root length, number of branches, shoot weight, root-shoot
ratio, fresh seedling weight and dry seedling weight. Seed viability, germination, seed vigor index-I
and seed vigor index-II decreased with the advancement of seed storability period. However, electrical
conductivity of seeds increased with the passage of storability period. However, among different
provenances, the seed lot from Nagaur provenance retained maximum vigour and viability even after
18 months of storability.
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