Estimates of some quantitative genetic characters in Brassica rapa var. yellow sarson under different environments

Twenty cultivars of yellow sarson were evaluated for various genetic parameters such as heritability and genetic advance for 11 characters in 3 diverse conditions, viz. irrigated timely sown (E₁), rainfed timely sown (E₂) and irrigated late sown (E₃) during 2 consecutive rabi seasons of 2009–10 and 2010–11 at Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. Significant differences were found among the cultivars for all the traits in the 3 conditions, indicating wide range of variation. Phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was greater than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters in all the conditions. The heritability (broad sense) estimates were high (> 70%) for all the characters in all the conditions except for primary branches plant-¹, seed siliqua ratio in E1 and E₃ environments, respectively and oil content in E₂ condition. Genetic advance (GAM) for different characters ranged from 1.81 to 78.99%. The estimates of GAM were high for siliqua plant-¹ followed by seeds siliqua⁻¹, seed yield plant-¹, primary branches plant-¹ and plant height. The estimates of high heritability coupled with high GAM was observed for siliqua plant-¹, seeds siliqua⁻¹, seed yield plant-¹, primary branches plant-¹, plant height and days to maturity indicated that selection on the basis of these characters would be effective.