Estimates of genetic parameters for yield and yield attributes in elite lines and popular cultivars of India’s pearl millet

Estimation of genetic parameters would be useful in developing appropriate selection strategies. Heritability is a measure of possible genetic advancement under selection. The research work pertaining to the study of genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing characters in twenty one diverse elite lines and cultivars of pearl millet was conducted during 2007 at the Millet Breeding Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Analysis of variance manifested highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits except number of productive tillers and days to maturity. Variability for genetic potential of twenty one genotypes for different traits was recorded and the highest variability were recorded for plant height (two folds), number of productive tillers (two fold) and for grain yield (four fold). The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). Low, medium and high estimates of broad sense heritability were found in different plant characters under the study. High estimates of broad sense heritability were recorded for grain yield per plant followed by panicle girth. Greater magnitude of broad sense heritability coupled with higher genetic advance in grain yield per plant and panicle length revealed that the simple selection should lead to a fast genetic improvement of the genotypes used in this study.