title: Variability, heritability and association of some morpho-agronomic traits in field pea (Pisum sativum L.) genotypes.
abstract: In order to best exploit the available genetic wealth in the crop, the information would have paramount important. Therefore, this study was conceived to examine the variability, heritabilities and determines the relative importance of primary and secondary traits as selection criteria to improve productivity. The field experiment was conducted at Haramaya University research field, Ethiopia during 2011 main cropping season. Twenty-five elite field pea genotypes along with two commercial varieties were arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications. The data were subjected to the analyses of variance using the SAS program software. The mean squares of the genotypes were highly significant for all of the characters. The genotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 11.19% for days to mature to 25.72% for number of seeds per plant. The estimated broad sense heritability ranged from 19.24% for stand count to 50.81% for days to flowering. Genetic gains that could be expected from selecting the top 5% of the genotypes varied from 11.45% for stand count to 33.08% for number of seeds per plant. The first five principal components accounted for more than 77% of the total variation. The first principal component accounted for about 43.75% of the variability due to Phenological traits. The materials were grouped into eight clusters based on Mahalanobis' D2 statistic. Seed yield per plant had significant associations with most of the traits. The path analysis at genotypic level revealed that harvest index and biomass yield contributed major positive direct effects on seed yield.
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Sciences, Haramaya University, P.O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Million
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fikreselassie
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005838:Genotype; D018532:Pisum sativum / Q000235:genetics*; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable