Variability, heritability and genetic advance in indigenous and exotic okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) moench] genotypes for yield and yield related traits at Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] is an annual vegetable that belongs to the family Malvaceae or Mallow. It is a warm-season annual herbaceous vegetable crop and it is self-pollinated, mainly propagated by seeds with maturity duration of 90-100 days. The plant is cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions around the world. It was reported that okra is native to North Eastern Africa in the area of Ethiopia and Sudan. Therefore, this study was initiated with the objectives of estimating variability, heritability and genetic advance for indigenous okra collections and exotic commercial varieties for yield and yield related traits. The field experiment was conducted at Dire Dawa in 2016 using 25 okra genotypes (14 were indigenous collections and 11 exotic varieties) in 5x5 triple lattice design. Data were collected on 9 and 29 qualitative and quantitative traits, respectively. The phenotypic and genetic coefficients of variations ranged from 7 to 35.27 and 5.69 to 33.31%, respectively. Heritability in broad sense ranged from 36.4% (days to maturity) to 99.3% (leaf width) while the genetic advance as percent of mean ranged from 7.7 (days to emergence) to 65.15% (tender fruits mucilage content), respectively. Both heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean values were high and moderate for all traits except for days to emergence which had moderate heritability and low genetic advance.