VARIATION IN SEED AND SEEDLING TRAITS OF MAHANEEM (AILANTHUS EXCELSA ROXB)

N. KAUSHIK¹*, R.P.S. DESWAL², V. JAKHAR³, S. ARYA^4
1Regional Research Station, Bawal, 123501, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
²Regional Research Station, Bawal, 123501, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
³Regional Research Station, Bawal, 123501, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
⁴Department of Forestry, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India
* Corresponding Author : nk20025@rediffmail.com

Received : 13-11-2019     Accepted : 26-12-2019     Published : 30-12-2019
Volume : 11     Issue : 12       Pages : 674 - 679
Genetics 11.12 (2019):674-679

Keywords : Ailanthus excels, Heritability, Plus Tree, Progeny
Academic Editor : Suleyman Cylek, Dr Vijay Prajapati, Utpal Roy
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, Govt. of India for providing financial support. Authors are also thankful to Regional Research Station, Bawal, 123501, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India.
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Ailanthus excelsa Roxb (tree of heaven), is a fast growing multipurpose tree species for arid and semi-arid areas with vide variability. It is, therefore, necessary to identify the plus trees for its improvement. Therefore, the present studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of progenies of A. excelsa for germination and seedling characters. Thirty plus trees were identified from states of Haryana and Rajasthan, India and sufficient quantities of mature pods were collected from these plus trees individually. Observations on seed and seedling traits were recorded. Thirty progenies showed significant (P>0.05) variability for all the characters studied. Higher magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) than corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was registered for all the characters. Highest heritability (99.50%) was shown by germination. The genetic advance as per cent mean varied from 12.62% (diameter) to 62.20% (fresh root weight). The clustering showed that progenies collected from different geographical regions were grouped in one cluster as evident from cluster III. Therefore, the pattern of divergence was not dependent upon geographical locations. Maximum intra- cluster distance (4.63) shown by cluster IV indicated wide divergence with in cluster itself. Maximum inter-cluster distance between cluster I and IV (7.44) indicated greater divergence between genotypes belonging to these clusters.

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