Variability in Kangni-3. Association Between Plant Characters and Discriminant Function for Varietal Selection in Four Environments

Coheritability of different pairs of characters in 32 varieties of Setaria italica were obtained under four environments differentiated by sowing dates, locations, and years. None of the characters were found to have higher coheritability value with yield per plant than the heritability yield under different environments. Coheritability values for most of the traits were lower under early sowing than that of those under late sowing. Plant height was observed to have a higher positive correlation with yield under all environments except under environment I, where days taken to ear had higher positive correlation with yield than the plant height with yield although it was also significantly correlated. Apart from yield, other characters such as days taken to ear, plant height, ear length and ear girth inter se showed high positive correlation under all. environments. Under early sowing, number of tillers per plant had high negative coefficients of correlation with all characters except yield. Coefficients of correlation were in general higher under delayed sowing than under early/normal sowing. Selection based on discriminant function did not give any advantage over straight selection for yield under environments II, III and IV. Under environment I, the selection index composed of days taken to ear, plant height, ear length, ear girth, number of tillers per plant and yield per plant gave relatively more efficiency than those based on other combination of characters including yield. Selection indices constructed from data of late and abnormal sowing gave better efficiency than those constructed from data of normal and favourable sowing conditions