Genetic Variability, Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis of Yield Attributes for Medium and Late Maturing Potato Cultivars

Potato is an excellent low fat source of carbohydrates with one-fourth the calories of bread. When boiled it provides more protein than maize with nearly twice the calcium. Potato of an average size with skin provides about 10 percent of the recommended daily intake of fibre. Breeders should take the challenge to provide food at cheaper rate to the millions of hungry people in developing countries by increasing the production of potato per unit area and per unit time. To initiate any breeding programme to this direction, presence of enough genetic variability in the population for yield related traits should be considered as pre requisite element. Moreover, application of perfect breeding method is dependent on estimation of genetic gain of the characters for successful selection as to develop desirable traits suggested (Johnson et al., 1955). The estimation of correlation co-efficient among the characters is necessary to carry out proper selection on the basis of simultaneous selection of correlated characters. The effect of harvesting at different dates on tuber yield on different genotypes can identify high International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 7 (2017) pp. 2558-2566 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com