Variation in tropical and temperate carrot (Daucus carota var. sativa L.) genotypes

Abstract: Widespread genetic variation occurs across carrot germplasm, and the assessment of variability provides an important foundation to take advantage of that variation for future carrot improvement. The present investigation was carried out to study the variability, heritability and genetic gain for nineteen traits in carrot. Genotypes PC-161, PC-15, PC-173 (tropical), PCO-30, PCO-5, PCO-7, PCP-2, PCP-1 and PCP-17B (temperate) were found to be superior with respect to highest total and marketable yield. Magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters which indicated role of environment on the character expression. Quantitative traits like total sugar content (%), carotene content (mg/100g), anthocyanin content(mg/100g) and lycopene content (mg/100g) had higher values of GCV, heritability and genetic gain and were found most important traits for applying selection in carrot for crop improvement.