Variability in Opium Poppy

Genetic variability in any crop is a breeders’ treasury for all crop improvement programmes. There is a constant search for new and diverse genetic stocks for improving and stabilizing yield and quality of produce. Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) is one example amongst medicinal crops, grown in a large tract in North India, where little effort has hitherto been made to collect and assess different cultivated types growing in the country. Recently, the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources organised a germplasm collection programme in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in collaboration with scientists from JNKVV, Jabalpur (Mandsaur centre), and University of Agric. and Technology, Faizabad and National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow (Gupta, Sethi, Gupta and Kazim, 1980). The present report describes range and co-efficient of variation and other values in the collections made from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh when grown at Delhi.