Morpho-agronomic variability of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] genotypes in Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia

A total of 21 okra genotypes were evaluated for 25 morpho-agronomic traits in 2020 at Dire Dawa, Ethiopia in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance showed significant differences at p<0.05 level of significance for all traits. Estimates of genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficients of variation range from 9.16 to 42.3% and 9.33 to 44.16%, respectively. Heritability in a broad sense (H-2) and genetic advance as a percent of the mean (GAM) ranged from 29.57 to 91.89% and 10.39 to 83.53%, respectively. Estimated variability components (GCV, PCV, H-2, and GAM) were high and moderate for all traits except days to 50% emergence 9.33% of GCV and PCV, internode length 9.16% of GCV and green fruit width 29.57% of H-2 that were categorized under low. The first four principal component axes (PCA1 to PCA4) accounted for 7.83 to 35.02%, which accounted 74.56% of the total variability with eigenvalues that ranged from 1.95 to 8.75. Genetic distances estimated by Euclidean distance from the 25 traits ranged from 2.33 to 12.56 with a mean of 6.83, standard deviation of 1.8, and a coefficient of variation of 26.46%. The genotypes were grouped into four distinct clusters using the Euclidean distance matrix using UPGMA. Indigenous okra genotypes collected from Ethiopia were more divergent with high genetic distances and had a higher performance for most of the traits including growth, green fruit yield, and seed yield than introduced genotypes. In conclusion, this study showed the presence of variation among genotypes for most of the traits, indicating that selection of genotypes could be effective to develop okra varieties with high green fruit and seed yield through direct selection or crossing.