Abstract

The estimates of genetic parameters of 39 (11 parents and 28 crosses) genotypes of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) indicated a good amount of genetic variation in the experimental materials under investigation. Characters like plant height, days to first picking, 100 green pod weight, green pod yield and days to 50% flowering revealed higher values of heritability in broad sense and genetic gain indicating that the additive gene actions are important in determining these characters. Therefore, selection programme based on these characters would be more effective in improving yield parameters of garden pea. The cross VRP-5 × Pusa Pragati manifested maximum significant heterosis for days to 50% flowering, DVP-2 × VL-7 for days to first picking and PMR-32 × snow pea for number of green pods per plant and green pod yield per plant, respectively.

Key words: Vegetable pea, variability, heritability, genetic advance, heterosis.