Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance for Some Yield and Yield Related Traits Among 36 Ethiopian White Lupine (Lupinus albus L.) Genotypes

The present study was conducted on 36 white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) genotypes to estimate the genetic variability, broad sense heritability and genetic advance. The genotypes were grown in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications at Research Site of Madda Walabu University and Gasera farmers’ farm land in southeastern part of Ethiopia in 2017. Data were collected on 18morpho-agronomic quantitative characters. The collected data were adjusted to mean values and the mean values were standardized to mean of zero and unity variance in order to minimize biases due to differences in scales of measurement and then subjected to analysis of variance using SAS 9.2software. The combined analysis of variance showed very highly significant (p<0.0001) and highly significant (p<0.01) differences among the studied genotypes for all characters, except for the traits number of primary branches (NPB) and pod thickness (PT) at both experimental sites. This indicated the existence of variability and hence the potential for selection and improvement for those characters other than NPB and PT. Wide range of variability was observed among the genotypes. The maximum performance value (9711.0 Kg ha-1) for the trait seed yield per hectare was observed on the genotype AC.26637; whereas the minimum (787.6Kg ha-1) was exhibited by the accession AC.239051. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was greater than that of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits indicating the influence of environmental variation to the total variation. Higher values of h2% were observed for the traits such as days to flowering (98%), pod length (97%) and seed yield per plot (SYP) (97%). Some traits, such as hundred seed weight and SYP showed high values of genetic advance as percent of mean. Hence, these traits can be used to improve white lupin through application of selection and other breeding methods. Keywords: Accession, GC V, genetic advance, heritability, PC V, White lupin, Yield related traits. DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/86-02 Publication date: April 30th 2019