Abstract

Three elite sugarcane varieties were used in this experiment to check the heritability parameters which consist of range, environmental variance, genetic variance, genetic advance and broad sense heritability. Four hundred and five soma clones were observed for phenotypic characters including number of tillers (plant^-1), cane height (cm), number of internode (plant^-1) and width of internode (cm). Variability range for different characters include number of tillers (plant^-1), cane height (cm), number of internode (plant^-1) and width of internode (cm) and were also assessed for three auxins. Highest heritability and remarkable genetic advance were recorded for the height of the cane and number of internode (plant^-1) was found when 2, 4-D was applied in Murashige and Skoog (MS) media, which directly affected the yield of sugarcane. High heritability and good genetic advance were observed for number of tillers (plant^-1) and width of internode (cm) when NAA was applied in the media. In addition to this, increasing concentration of hormones had positive effect on the heritability and genetic advance for phenotypic traits of the sugarcane soma clones. Similarly, it was observed that environmental and genetic variances have optimum effect on the heritability of the sugarcane. Application of 2, 4- D and picloram were recorded as efficient in transference of high heritability and genetic advance to them. On the basis of higher heritability selection made to develop hybrid in sugarcane, higher genetic advancement helped to develop synthetic varieties in sugarcane.

Key words: Heritability, genetic advance, sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), auxins, phenotypic character.