Vol. 12, Issue 12 (2023)

Author(s):
K Sakthivel, K Senthamizh, K Vijayageetha and MS Aneesa Rani

Abstract:
Genetic variability for various characters of Amaranthus tricolor (Vern. Thandukeerai) was assessed in germplasm collected across the tracts of north-east coastal region in the state of Tamil Nadu. A total of nine quantitative traits including plant height, number of leaves, leaf length, leaf breadth, leaf weight, stem weight, single plant weight, stem girth and biomass yield were recorded in these thirteen genotypes. Highest per plant foliage weight was recorded by AT3 (42.9 g) followed by AT6 (42.8). The stem of the cultures were either succulent or fibrous types. The phenotypic evaluation for overall evaluation identified seven cultures to be appealing as that of CO5. The variance due to phenotypic and genotypic effects were studied and found that phenotypic variance was high compared to genotypic variance for all the characters in Amaranthus. The genotypes exhibited a high degree of variation for all the characters studied. The genotype mean sum of squares for most of the traits indicated the existence of variability among the collected genotypes. The magnitude of GCV and PCV were higher for the number of leaves, stem girth, plant height, stem weight and single plant yield.