Stability analysis of selected mutants in neelamari (Indigofera tinctoria L.)

Abstract

The research work on “Stability analysis of selected mutants in neelamari (Indigofera tinctoria L.)” was carried out with nine mutants and one local accession as check over four locations viz., farmer‟s fields at Kalliyoor, Vellanad, Kayamkulam and Kottarakara during summer season of 2015-2016 with the objective of studying the performance of superior mutants for yield and indigotin content over different locations. In the pooled analysis of variance for evaluation of mutants over locations, significant differences among the genotypes were noticed for all the characters studied and significant differences among environments were noticed for the characters number of branches, girth of stem, length of leaves, width of leaves and indigotin content suggesting that genotypes interacted significantly with environments. Stability analysis revealed that the mutants It-3, It-6 and It-9 were stable over all locations for different characters like net assimilation rate, dry weight of leaves and indigotin content. The mutant It-3 was stable for plant spread, number of branches, girth of stem, length of leaves, internodal length, leaf area, harvest index, total dry weight of plant, dry matter production, leaf area index and dry weight of shoot, while mutant It-6 was stable for plant height, plant spread, number of branches, length of leaves, width of leaves, leaf area, harvest index, fresh weight of leaves and fresh weight of shoot. The mutant It-9 was stable for the characters like internodal length, total fresh weight of the plant and fresh weight of shoot. It-1, It-2 and It-8 were identified as stable mutants for favourable environments. Mutant It-8 showed stable performance for most of the characters. Mutant It-1 was stable in favourable environment for number of branches, length of leaves, total dry weight of the plant, leaf area index and dry weight of shoot whereas mutant It-2 was stable for girth of stem, width of leaves, dry matter production, leaf area index and fresh weight of leaves. The mutant It-10 was found to be stable for the characters plant spread, harvest index, total fresh weight of the plant and dry weight of shoot in poor environments. The present investigation revealed that the mutants It-3, It-6 and It-9 were stable over different locations during the summer season. It-1, It-2 and It-8 were the mutants which performed well under favourable environment and It-10 was the mutant suitable for unfavourable environment.