Main Article Content
Abstract
In the era of malnutrition and hidden hunger, improvement of mineral profile along with the important quality and horticultural traits is the need of the hour. However, very little/ negligible research has been carried out to suggest the selection indices with respect to simultaneous improvement of mineral traitsalong with yield for onion improvement. Therefore, the present investigation was carried out to study thegenetic relatedness of the mineral profile and other selected components in indigenous cultivars of onion (Allium cepa L.). Fifty eight indigenous cultivars were taken up for study. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the recorded traits except moisture content (%). High GCV and PCV along with high heritability and genetic advance was observed for pyruvic acid, iron content, average bulb weight and marketable yield suggesting the role of additive gene action, thus selection for these traits in early generations would be effective. Values of phosphorus and iron content ranged from 22.05 to 33.67 mg/ 100g per cent and 0.28 to 0.67 mg/ 100g respectively, indicating the diverse mineral profile of the studied material. Average bulb weight and total yield could be suggested as best selection indices for onion improvement on the basis of correlation and path analysis. Changes in the iron content correlates positively with the marketable yield at both the genotypic and phenotypic levels. In addition, high direct effects of iron pave the way to incorporate it as a selection parameter for improving the mineral profile along with horticultural traits in indigenous onion cultivars