Evaluation and Genetical Studies of Yellow Seeded Germplasm of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Yellow seeded linseed (Unum usitatissimum L.) germplasm was evaluated for 10 agro-morphological and quality characters using two checks, namely Surabhi and KL-223 at Crop Research Farm, Nawabganj, CSAUA & T, Kanpur during rabi 2003–04 and 2004–05. Among 10 traits studied maximum variation was observed for branches per plant (9.85%) followed by seed yield per plant (7.44%). The least variability was observed for plant height (0.23%) followed by oil content (0.61%). Promising donors were identified for various economic traits which can be further use for future breeding programme. Genotype EC41583 was found to be one of the useful donor for branches/plant, capsules per plant and seed yield per paint. The genotype BSL-4 was observed to be good donor for oil content. The positive and significant values of correlation were observed for branches per plant, test weight and capsules per plant with seed yield per plant. Hence, selection for the highest values of these traits will be desirable to increase seed yield. The positive and significant correlation indicated that bold seeded types are having high oil content. Characterization of promising donors for high oil content was also studied.