Genetic Variability and Correlation Studies in Onion

Variability and correlation studies were conducted on 43 varieties of onion at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 1970. A wide range of phenotypic variation was observed in bulb size, yield per hactare, ascorbic acid, total solids and dry weight per hectare. Heritability estimates (broad sense) were found to be high for bulb size, total solids and dry weight per hactare and moderate for ascorbic acid and yield per hectare. Bulb size, dry weight per hectare and total solids had high heritability together with a high genetic advance indicating the additive gene effects. Total solids were observed to be negatively correlated with bulb size and yield. However, the yield was positively correlated with bulb size and dry matter per hectare.