GENETIC ANALYSIS OF FORAGE YIELD AND ITS COMPONENT
TRAITS IN BAJRA X NAPIER HYBRIDS
SUNIL M. SATAPUTE, ANANT R. MALI* AND PANKAJ P. JIBHAKATE
Department of Agricultural Botany
M. P. K. V., Rahuri-413 722, (Maharashtra), India
*(e-mail : armali.333@gmail.com)
(Received : 29 September 2014; Accepted : 20 August 2014)
SUMMARY
Variability in 40 derivatives of Bajra x Napier grass hybrids was studied for forage yield and its component characters viz., plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of leaves per tiller, number of internodes per tiller, leaf length, leaf width, L/S ratio, crude protein, oxalic acid content, dry matter yield and green forage yield. The derivative lines were grouped based on vegetative plant vigour into good (9), medium (13) and poor (10), while growth habit into erect (10), semi-erect (10) and spreading (12). High genotypic coefficient of variation for dry matter per plant (33.50), moderate variability in plant height, number of tillers per plant and number of leaves per plant were observed among the germplasm studied. The estimates of heritability (b. s.) and GA as percentage of mean were high for characters viz., dry matter yield, green forage yield, number of tillers per plant, and L : S ratio, indicating influence of additive gene action on these characters, so that further selection should be followed for improvement of derivatives of grass hybrids.
Keywords : Bajra x Napier grass hybrids, genetic advance, heritability, variability, forage yield