Vegetos

Abstract

Sixty genotypes of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) were evaluated at three different agro-climatic zones in India viz., North Coastal zone of Andhra Pradesh, Indo-Gangetic zone and Terai zone of West Bengal for fiber yield and its contributing characters during Kharif, 2013 and 2014 for twelve characters. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that three components (PC₁ to PC₃) with eigen values more than one accounted for about 88% of the total variation among twelve quantitative characters in roselle genotypes. The principal components PC₁, PC₂ and PC₃ contributed about 74.56%, 8.24% and 5.04% respectively to the total variation. The first principal component had high positive loading for dry stick weight, plant height, fiber yield and green weight (leafless) which contributed more to the diversity. The second principal component had high loading for petiole length, dry stick weight and fiber yield. The genotypes viz., ER-60, REX-34, AS-81-22, REX-6, R-284, AR-71, R-30, R-37, ER-57 and AS-80-7 were identified as the most diverse genotypes, based on component scores for use as parents in hybridization programme. High degree of variability existing within the accessions and the characters will help for further improvement of the rosella crop by evolving high fiber yielding cultivars.