S. P. BHAPKAR, P. P. SURANA, V. B. SHINDE* AND G. C. SHINDE
Department of Agril. Botany
Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri-413 722, District Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), India
*(e-mail : vbshinde70@gmail.com)
(Received : 5 December 2021; Accepted : 28 December 2021)
SUMMARY
The present investigation entitled, “Characterization and variability studies for green forage yield and associated traits in forage cactus”, was conducted on 34 forage cactus genotypes at Cattle Farm Project, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Dist. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra during Summer 2019 – Rabi 2020. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with two replications and observations were recorded on one plant in each replication for ten characters considered viz., plant height (cm), plant width (cm), number of cladodes (no), cladode length (cm), cladode thickness (cm), dry matter content (%), crude protein content (%), dry matter yield/ plant (kg), green forage yield per plant (kg) in each replication. The analysis of variance revealed that mean sum of squares due to genotypes for all characters studied showed highly significant differences. Based on the mean performance of the 34 genotypes studied, Mexico fodder 1278 was having highest plant height among all other genotypes. COPENA F1 has largest plant width and Orelha de Elephantemaxicana was with highest number of cladodes. Genotype 1280 was with cladode having highest length and width along with highest cladode thickness. Genotype COPENA F1 has the highest dry matter content. Green forage yield is significantly higher of Orelha de elefantemaxicana which also has highest dry matter yield /plant. For all the characters under study genotypes Palma grande, Palma redonda, Orelha de elefantemaxicana, COPENA F1, IPA-90-92, IPA-90-111, IPA-90-156, 1294, 1296, 1280 were found superior for most of the characters.The Characters like plant width, number of cladodes/plant, green forage yield /plant and dry matter yield / plant have high value of GCV and PCV respectively. High heritability combined with high genetic advance is found for all characters except for cladode thickness. Green forage yield/plant showed significantly high and positive correlation with dry matter yield/ plant followed by number of cladodes/plant, dry matter content, cladode thickness, plant width, cladode length and cladode width. Other character like plant height and crude protein content showed positive correlation with the green forage yield but not significant at the genotypic level. In path analysis the high positive and direct effect is of dry matter yield / plant followed by number of cladodes/ plant, cladode width and cladode thickness on green forage yield.
Key words: Forage cactus, variability, correlation , path analysis and green forage yield