GENETIC VARIABLITY AND SELCTION PARAMETERS IN <em>DENDROCALAMUS</em> <em>STRICTUS</em>

Abstract

An experiment was conducted with 18 candidate plus clumps to measure the variability and association of different traits (diameter of culms, height of culms as well as number of internodes and length of internode). Ways to improve diameter of culms in Dendrocalamus strictus at the nursery stage were discussed. Analysis of variance showed differences in all the traits studied. High heritability with high genetic gain was observed for all the traits studied except for length of internode. Length of internode showed moderate heritability with moderate genetic gain. Both additive and non-additive genes were found effective for all the traits. Diameter of culm showed positive and significant association at the phenotypic, genotypic and environmental levels. Path correlation analysis, both at genotypic and phenotypic levels revealed that number of internodes showed maximum direct effect on diameter of culms.