HERITABILITY AND CORRELATION STUDIES IN KENAF (HIBISCUS CANNABINUS L.)

Abstract

Eight hybrids involving four lines (HC 583, AMC 6, AMC 8 and AMC 53) and two testers (AMC 15 and AMC 7) were tested to find out the extent of variability, heritability, genetic advance, and correlations for ten quantitative characters. Fibreweight perplant, green plant weight and bark thickness showed high heritability, indicating that selection in early generationswould be effective. Correlation studies revealed that the characters studied are positively associated among themselves except intemodallength and days to flowering which showed negative correlation. Selection for plant height, numberof nodes, basal stem diameter, green plant weight, fibre length, fibre-wood ratio, and bark thickness would simultaneously improve fibre weight (yield).