Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Information on the nature and magnitude of genetic variability and heritability of different characters would be highly important for initiation of any mulberry breeding programme. The present study was carried out to estimate the genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance of growth and yield contributing characters in 18 mulberry genotypes at Regional Sericultural Research Station, Central Silk Board, Miran Sahib, Jammu during Autumn, 2019. Analysis of variance for growth and yield contributing characters showed highly significant differences among the genotypes. Phenotypic coefficient of variation was found to be higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation for all the characters indicating the role of environment in the expression of characters. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for number of leaves per meter, internodal distance, leaf area, diameter of shoot, total shoot length, weight of 10 fresh leaves, leaf moisture retention capacity and leaf yield per plant indicating that variation in these traits was most likely due to additive gene effect. The directional selection would be effective to improve these characters. Therefore, number of leaves per meter, internodal distance, leaf area, diameter of shoot, total shoot length, weight of 10 fresh leaves and leaf yield per plant can be considered as selection criterion during mulberry improvement for leaf yield.