Genetic Variability, Correlation and Path Analysis among Quantitative and Qualitative Traits of Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum L.)

Abstract

Background: The poppy seeds commonly known as ‘khus-khus’ or ‘postadana’, obtained from opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum L.) is known one of the world’s oldest medicinal plant. Its alkaloids, seeds and oil used since time immemorial for therapeutic, food stuffs and economical purpose. An effective breeding program plays an important role for selection, genetic improvement and development of high yielding cultivars/variety in opium poppy. Therefore, a study was conceded out to evaluate the genetic variability, path analysis for different agronomic traits along with their major chemical constituents of opium alkaloids in 30 accessions/landraces of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) collected from different geographical places of India. Methods: The 30 genotypes of Opium poppy including different breeding lines and landraces collected from different places were grown in year (2017-18) in randomized complete-block designs (RCBD) with three replications at the research farm of CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow. Morpho-metric data were recorded on five competitive randomly selected plants in each line for following thirteen traits. Dried husk/straw capsules were chemically analyzed through HPLC. The pooled mean data were statistically analysed by using Windostat statistical software 4.0 versions available at Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CSIR-CIMAP Lucknow. Result: Variation among the mean of thirty diverse genetic stocks was highly significant (p<0.01) for all thirteen traits. High heritability coupled with high Genetic advance as percent mean (GAM) and Genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for the traits Thebaine and Nosacapine. The results of associations studies revealed that the trait capsule/plant was positively and significantly correlated with seed (g)yield/plant (gm) and nosacapine at both genotypic and phenotypic level. According to results, a significant genetic variability was also present among 30 accessions, simple selection can be employed to improve seed yield along with alkaloids yield.