Genetic variability in Jatropha curcas in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The study on Jatropha curcas was conducted in Himachal Pradesh to estimate the genetic variability for the plant phenotypical characters, seed traits and nursery growth parameters among the different altitudinal provenances. The characters like number of fruits/tree, seed yield / tree, oil content and one hundred seed weight had high genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and genetic advance indicating importance of these characters for selection purposes. Results also revealed that germination percentage, germination energy, number of branch/tree and seed pulp ratio were ineffective for selection because of low genetic estimates. Nineteen characters of Jatropha curcas were classified in to four factors contributing to 85.14 per cent of total variation.