Growth, productivity, and genetic variability of some Melia dubia Cav. open pollinated families in Gujarat, India

The growth, productivity, and genetic variability among 17 open pollinated Melia dubia families was estimated for 5 years in Gujarat, India. There was significant variation in tree height and DBH growth among families from 1^st till 5^th year of evaluation. In 4^th and 5^th year, GJ09 (local family from Northern most tip of Western Ghats, parts falling in Gujarat) achieved significantly maximum height (11.20 and 13.33 m, respectively) and DBH (15.26 and 18.00 cm, respectively) compared other families. Overall, at the age of 5 years, family GJ09, attained highest fresh biomass (30.35 tonne ha^-1 year^-1) and volume productivity (29.63 m³ ha^-1 year^-1). The highest GCV, PCV and genetic gain was for tree volume and biomass.All the growth traits recorded maximum heritability values and varied from 60.20 to 74.73 per cent. Among all growth parameters, tree biomass resulted in higher broad sense heritability and genetic gain. There was a strong positive genetic and phenotypic correlation among studied growth traits in M. dubia. Values of r_g (0.835 to 0.939) and r_p (0.689 to 0.943) were within the permissible limit for tree height, DBH and volume. Tree biomass was strongly associated with height, diameter and volume.