Variability, Heritability, and Correlation Studies for Economic Traits in Grain Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.)

Abstract

Grain amaranth is a potential nutri-cereal and has high demand in the market due to its nutritional status. An experiment was conducted to evaluate different agro-morphological characteristics of grain amaranth. For this purpose, 102 grain amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) genotypes were taken to estimate different genetic components. The characters like leaf length (cm), stem thickness (cm), petiole length (cm), seed yield (q/ha) and seed test weight (g/10 mL) showed high genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) values. The highest GCV and PCV were recorded with seed test weight (g/10 mL) (40.57 and 45.40%). The estimated high heritability in different characters studied ranged from 77 to 99%. Heritability was observed to be high in consequence for days to 50% flowering, petiole length (cm), stem thickness (mm), seed test weight (g/10 mL), leaf width (cm), seed yield (q/ha), leaf length (cm), plant height (cm), and inflorescence length (cm). Days to 50% flowering showed a highly significant positive correlation with days to 80% maturity (rg = 0.8897, rp = 0.7931) and plant height (cm) highly significant positive correlation with petiole length (cm) (rg = 0.3202, rp = 0.2821). Petiole length significantly correlated with leaf width (rg = 0.1909, rp = 0.1918). Seed yield (q/ha) had a positive but not significant correlation with inflorescence length, leaf width, and petiole length. The Euclidean distance range 0 to 8. In pair-wise comparison, the maximum distance was obtained between IC444100 and IC444105 with the Euclidean distance of 8, whereas IC340823 and IC356023 (1.7%) showed least Euclidean distance with other genotypes. This study will help the utilization of diverse amaranth germplasm in future grain amaranth breeding programs to develop desired variety.