Variability for seed oil content and seedling traits in Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre

Twenty three CPTs (Candidate Plus Trees) of Pongamia pinnata were selected from different agro-climatic conditions of Haryana state of India and were assessed to identify the elite planting material for improvement of the species in terms of oil content. The differences among CPTs of P. pinnata were significant for seed oil content and all growth parameters of the progenies of these CPTs at the seedling stage. Oil content in P. pinnata varied from 27.07 (P12) to 38.17% (P2). The estimates of genotypic coefficients of variation for the characters studied were less as compared to the phenotypic coefficients of variation for all the characters examined. The highest phenotypic coefficient of variation (49.33) and genotypic coefficient of variation (28.56) was recorded for the germination percentage followed by height of the first branch. Number of leaves (0.5551**), inter-nodal length (0.5580**) and number of branches (0.6182**) showed high and positive correlation with the seed oil content. The progeny number 9, 21 and 2 were found to be the best on basis of oil content (36. 37, 36.83 and 38.17 %, respectively), and other characters examined. D2 analysis grouped the CPTs into 5 clusters. The highest numbers of progenies were included in the cluster I followed by cluster III and least number of progenies i.e., two were observed in cluster II. The intra cluster distances ranged from 4.12 (cluster V) to 5.96 (cluster II). The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster II and III (10.02) followed by I and III and minimum was between clusters I and cluster V. The crosses between clusters II and III may result sufficient segregation for further improvement of the species. Therefore, the progenies belonging to the clusters II and III could be taken as parents for a successful hybridization program.