Genetic Investigation in Garden Pea for Yield and Quality Characters

An experiment was conducted to determine the magnitude of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance as per cent over mean among twenty-two genotypes of garden pea using five quantitative and eight qualitative characters. The results of ANOVA showed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters, indicating a wide spectrum of variability among the genotypes. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). The high value of GCV and PCV was recorded for the weight of 10 green pods, the weight of seeds 10 green pods, Chlorophyll-A and Chlorophyll-B. All the characters showed a high magnitude of heritability in a broad sense (>60%), ranging from 86.68% (Pod yield per hectare) to 99.60% (Chlorophyll-A). Further, high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean (>20%) was observed for all the characters except firmness, suggesting that these characters are genetically controlled by additive (heritable) gene action and can be utilized for garden pea improvement through selection. This study has five promising genotypes: ‘Arka Apoorva, ’‘Arka Sampoorna, ’‘Arka Tapas,’‘IIHR-570’ and ‘IIHR-684’ which have been identified for higher yield, which can be utilized for further crop improvement program.