Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance studies in pea (Pisum sativum L.) for quantitative characters

An experiment was conducted to determine the magnitude of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean among fifty-five genotypes of pea using eleven quantitative characters viz., days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of first fruiting node, length of first fruiting node, number of pods per plant, length of pod, width of pod, number of seeds per pods, green pod yield per plant, seed yield per plant and shell weight per plant. The results of ANOVA showed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters indicating the existence of wide spectrum of variability among the genotypes. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was quite higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). High value of GCV and PCV was recorded for seed yield per plant, number of pods per plant, shell weight per plant, green pod yield per plant, plant height, length of first fruiting node and number of first fruiting node. All the characters showed high magnitude of heritability in broad sense (>60%) ranged from 83.91% (width of pod) to 98.84% (number of pods per plant). Further, high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percentage of mean (>20%) was observed for all the characters except days to 50 % flowering suggesting that these characters are genetically controlled by additive (heritable) gene action and can be utilized for pea improvement through selection. The genotypes which showed superior results for the objectives under study were VRP-383, VRP-311, VRP-320 and Kashi Shakti and can be utilized for further breeding programme of pea.