Estimates of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in linseed (Linum usita-tissinum L.) germplasm

In the present study, the estimates of the parameters of variability viz., phenotypic coefficient of variation, genotypic coefficients of variation, heritability in broad sense (h²), expected genetic advance expressed as percentage of mean and mean performance of various quantitative traits of linseed were studied. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the treatments for all traits. The magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation for (GCV) all the characters. The high percentage of PCV was observed in grain yield/plant (67.96%) followed by biological yield/plant (54.11%), harvest index (53.90%), capsules/plant (50.42%), secondary branches (37.49%), primary branches (30.16%), grain yield/plot (25.40%) whereas, the GCV percentage was high in grain yield/plant (64.10%) followed by harvest index (52.75%), biological yield/plant (50.94%), capsules/plant (45.47%), secondary branches/plant (34.32%) and primary branches/plant (28.24%). High heritability (in broad sense) estimates were obtained for plant height (99.8%), primary branches (87.7%), secondary branches (83.8%), leaf area (99.2%), capsules/plant (81.3%), days to maturity (98.8%), biological yield/plant (88.6%), grain yield/plant (89.0%), 1000-seed weight (99.9%), harvest index (95.8%) and oil content (97.1%). However, none of the character shown low heritability estimates. In general high genetic advance (in percentage of mean) was noticed for all the characters except for days to maturity (7.05), oil content (8.70) seeds/capsule (9.73) and stem diameter (21.92) where low and medium G. A. in percentage of mean was observed. These all components suggested good selection criteria to improve linseed breeding.