Genetic Variability and Heritability in Diverse Accessions of Wild Noni (Morinda tomentosa Heyne ex Roth) in North Gujarat, India

The present study aims to provide valuable insights for the development of effective breeding strategies and the conservation of this important medicinal plant species. Genetic variability and heritability for morphological and phytochemical attributes were studied in Morinda tomentosa. The experimental material for the present investigation comprised 31 diverse accessions of wild Noni (Morinda tomentosa Heyne ex Roth) collected from forest areas of Panchmahals, Kheda, and Dantiwada during year, 2007-08. The magnitude of genotypic coefficient of variation was higher for all but number of seeds per fruit, flavonol content in leaf, number of branches per plant, flavonol content in fruit, fruit length, total soluble sugar, plant height, ascorbic acid content in fruit and fruit width indicating lesser role of environment in the expression of the traits. The broad sense heritability was higher for all but fruit width indicating explicit realization of heritable variance and thereby offering abundant chances of improvement in those characters by simple selection. Genetic advance is the ultimate objective of interest for a breeder. The genetic advance increases with increase in genetic variance. The heritability in broad sense as such also has little significance as it includes both additive and epistatic gene effects. The increased estimates of genetic advance with high heritability for fruit, leaf, and carotenoid content suggested that additive gene action had a role in the expression of these traits, further supporting the idea that phenotypic selection based on these features would be more successful.