Abstract

Thirty diverse genotypes of fenugreek were grown in six (E1 to E6) environments during the winter seasons for three consecutive years from 2002 to 2003 and 2004 to 2005 under high input and low input conditions, created by changing the date of sowing, spacing, fertilizer dose and other crop management practices at the Agriculture Farm of Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, West Bengal. Analysis of correlations revealed that significant and positive genotypic and phenotypic correlations of pod number, husk weight, stem weight and harvest index with seed yield did not change with the change in environmental conditions. Majority of the characters (except days to flowering and test weight) had significant and positive correlation with seed yield in all the environments except in E3, indicating the scope for selection for improving seed yield of fenugreek. The positive direct effects recorded in genotypic and phenotypic path analyses for pod number, seeds per pod and test weight were consistently greater in all the six environments. Therefore, selection of these characters in positive direction would be effective in increasing seed yield.

Key words: Correlation, direct effect, environments, morphological characters fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum L.