STUDIES ON EVALUATION OF GUAR (CYAMOPSIS-TETRAGONOLOBA (L) TAUB) GERMPLASM

The germplasm comprising 200 accessions of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L). Taub) was evaluated by growing in an augmented complete randomised block design (Fedrer 1956), to determine the genetic variability and to isolate the superior genotypes. A wide range of phenotypic variations was observed in each of the characters studied, but it was more conspicuous in respect of branch number (BN), cluster number (CN), pod number (PN) and seed yield per plant. The heritability in broad sense and the expected genetic gain were also high in respect of these characters. Further, the three characters (BN, CN & PN) had positive and significant correlations with the seed yield. It was concluded that an improvement in these characters would help enhance the seed yield. Based on these observations a number of strains have been isolated for utilization either as the direct high seed yielding strains or as donor parents in the breeding programme to improve the guar seed yield.