Vol. 11, Special Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
Darshana Patra, PN Jagadev, PK Nayak and S Mohanty

Abstract:
A set of forty-six genotypes of sugarcane were analysed at Sugarcane Research Station, Nayagarh during 2019-2021 for three seasons to study heritability, genetic advance, correlation and path analysis of twenty-two characters. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the characters under study indicating the existence of genetic variation. Coefficients of variation at genotypic and phenotypic levels and heritability (broad sense) with expected genetic advance (as percent of mean) were high for single cane weight, germination per cent, plant height, cane girth, number of internodes per cane, internodal length, number of millable canes, sugar yield and cane yield indicating that selection for these characters would be more reliable. The number of tillers, single cane weight, number of millable canes, number of shoots, germination per cent and cane yield exhibited significantly strong positive association with sugar yield. Analysis of path coefficient indicated that the highest direct contribution to sugar yield was manifested by number of millable canes, brix per cent at 10 months, sucrose per cent at 12 months and purity per cent at 12 months. Hence, the findings revealed the importance of number of millable canes, single cane weight and sucrose per cent at 12 months as the selection criteria for sugar yield improvement of the advanced genotypes of sugarcane with appropriate package of practices.