Genetic Variability Studies for Yield and Its Attributing Traits in Niger (Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass)

The experiment was conducted during Kharif 2020 and 2021 at Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. A total of 103 accessions including 03 checks  were assessed and observations were recorded for ten traits viz., days to flower initiation, days to 50 % flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, number of capitula per plant, number of seeds per capitula, 1000 seed weight (g) and seed yield per plant (g). REML analysis discovered significant differences among the 103 accessions for all the traits. It indicates a satisfactory amount of genetic variability among the accessions for yield and yield-attributing traits. Values of phenotypic coefficients of variation were higher than the value of genotypic coefficients of variation in this study. High heritability was noted for all the traits under the experiment. Genetic advance as a percentage of mean recorded high for seed yield per plant followed by number of capitula per plant, number of seeds per capitula, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, 1000-seed weight whereas, trait days to 50% flowering, days to flower initiation and days to maturity exhibited low magnitude. These results indicate the dominance of the additive gene effect, which will aid in selection in an early segregating generation.