Genetic variability and correlation estimates for morpho-physiological characteristics in half sib progenies of Toona ciliata

The study was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and physiological behaviour of half sib progenies of twenty-four genotypes of Toona ciliata M. Roem, under field conditions. On the basis of mean performance, seed source S5 (Salouni), S6 (Chabutra) and S2 (Kamahi Devi) exhibited outstanding performance whereas among genotypes, progenies of S₆ G₁₆ (Chabutra), S₅ G₁₅ (Salouni), S₆ G₁₇ (Chabutra), S₂ G₄ (Kamahi Devi) and S₅ G₁₃ (Salouni) were superior for morphological and physiological characteristics. High heritability and moderate genetic gain were observed for leaf area, petiole length, clear bole height, carotenoids, chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll content and suggests that genotypic selection would be most effective for these traits. Highly significant and positive genotypic and phenotypic correlation was found for plant height with clear bole height and total chlorophyll with carotenoids and needs to be taken into consideration while doing indirect selection for the associated characters. Further, total chlorophyll, should be given weightage while selection along with other traits (carotenoids, chlorophyll a and plant height), since they are the largest contributors towards total genetic diversity in the genotypes.