GENETIC VARIABILITY AND HERITABILITY IN GROWTH AND LEAF ASSOCIATED TRAITS OF SELECTED <em>DALBERGIA</em> <em>SISSOO</em> GENOTYPES

Abstract

Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. Ex. DC. is a multipurpose, high-value timber tree species native to the Indian subcontinent. The present study aimed at accessing variability among selected 12 genotypes of D. sissoo from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, India. Branch cuttings from the genotypes were grown under nursery conditions and various plant growth traits like plant height, collar diameter, number of branches per plant, and leaf associated traits such as rachis length, petiole length, leaflet length, length of mid-rib, leaflet width and distance between leaflets, were recorded at six months of age. The genotype DSHH1 (D. sissoo, HFRI, Himachal Pradesh 1) showed better leaf characters viz., rachis length, leaflet length, midrib length and leaf width. However, DSHJ4 (D. sissoo, HFRI, Jammu and Kashmir 4) performed better for collar diameter and the number of branches per plant. A higher Phenotypic Coefficient of Variance (PCV) value than the Genotypic Coefficient of Variance (GCV) for most of the studied traits, with lesser differences between both parameters, indicated that the selected traits were not much under environmental influence. High heritability was recorded for rachis length 68%, the number of branches per plant 75.96%, length of midrib 79.08%, and leaflet length 82.09%. However, moderate heritability was recorded for collar diameter 46.91% and plant height 58.21%. Based on the studied traits, shisham genotypes were grouped into two major clusters. Cluster A was comprised of seven genotypes (DSHH1, DSHJ4, DSHJ1, DSHH4, DSHH5, DSHJ6 and DSHH3) and five in Cluster B (DSHH6, DSHH2, DSHJ5, DSHJ3 and DSHJ2). Thus, there is significant variability in the selected shisham genotypes and they can be utilised for breeding and improvement in traits with better genetic estimates.