Variability studies for yield and its contributing traits in okra

Twelve okra genotypes were crossed in diallel fashion excluding reciprocals to generate 66 one-way hybrids. All the F₁‘s along with their parents were grown at Vegetable Research Farm of the Department of Vegetable Crops, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab during the rainy season of 2004–05. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were noticed for number of primary branches per plant indicating maximum variability among the different genotypes. High estimates of heritability coupled with high genetic advance obtained for number of branches per plant, total yield per plant and marketable yield per plant indicating presence of additive gene effects which indicated the effectiveness of selection for these traits. Presence of high heritability coupled with low genetic advance for days to fruit picking, average fruit weight, plant height, internodal length, number of fruits per plant, fruit diameter and average fruit length revealed that straight selection has limited scope for further improving these traits.