LAUSR

Moringa oleifera Lam. (common name: drum stick, horseradish tree) belongs to the monogeneric family, Moringaceae. Immature pods, fresh leaves and flowers of M. oleifera are used for culinary purposes. The leaves and young pods are a rich source of minerals and vitamins. In the present study, 23 genotypes of drumstick, which were selected based on superiority of yield/tree from 120 genotypes surveyed in South India were subjected to analysis morphology, yield and quality attributes and found they are substantially varying thus necessitate further analysis. Diversity analysis based on the coefficient of variation (CV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), environmental coefficient of variation (ECV), phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and heritability were determined. Quantitative fruit traits such as fruit length (30.56–127.57 cm), fruit weight (72.22–163.27 g), fruit breadth (3–8 cm), number of fruits/tree (NF/T) (320–1000), and number of seeds/fruit (NS/F) (11–29) varied among the genotypes. Correlation studies revealed that the fruit yield had a significant, positive correlation with the number of fruits per tree, length of fruit and single fruit weight. The estimate of PCV was slightly higher than the GCV for all characters studied, indicating that the apparent variation is not only genetic but also influenced by the growing environment in the expression of the traits. Heritability was greater than 90% for all characters studied. The overall analysis outcome of the study emphasizes that selection of high yielding genotypes should give due weightage to the number of fruits per tree and single fruit weight.