Variability, heritability and character association studies for growth and seed yield in Jatropha Curcas crosses

The present study was conducted on intraspecific crosses of Jatropha developed by using ten parents at Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi to evaluate variability, heritability and genetic advance of growth and seed yield traits. Study revealed that all the crosses differed significantly in growth and seed yield traits. The 100 seed weight varied from 49.8 g (NRCJ35) to 61 g (NRCJ-26) whereas seed yield ranged from 177.5 g (NRCJ-30) to 733g (NRCJ-15). The genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation of 100 seed weight was 3.37 and 10.92, respectively whereas heritability (30.86%) and genetic advance as per cent of mean was moderate (3.73%). The genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation of seed yield was 8.42 and 21.61, along with 38.96 per cent heritability and 65.81 per cent genetic advance. The study indicates that the variation found in different traits can be effectively utilized in genetic improvement of this species and good performing crosses can be utilized for large plantation under biofuel development programme.