Genetic variability and character association for quantitative traits in cauliflower (brassica oleracea var. Bsotrytis) genotypes

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate sixteen cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) genotypes under the agro-climatic conditions of Gazipur, Bangladesh during 07 November 2024 to 24 February2025, to find out their variability, character association and path coefficient of curd yield and its related traits at the Research Field of Olericulture Division of Horticulture Research Center, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Significant variation (p ≤ 0.001) was observed among genotypes for all traits, indicating ample genetic diversity suitable for selection and improvement of cauliflower. Early maturing genotypes such as CL-1, CL-2, and CL-4 showed the shortest duration for curd initiation and harvest but produced smaller curds and lower yields. In contrast, Cl-5, CL-7, CL-9, CL-12 and CL-13 recorded superior vegetative growth, larger curd size and the highest curd yield per hectare (58.56-67.07 t/ha). High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean for traits such as whole plant weight, marketable curd weight, days to first curd initiation, days to fifty percent curd initiation and net curd weight indicated that additive gene effects play a major role and simple selection methods would be successful. However, the less deviations between phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation suggested low influence of growing environment for all traits and these traits are mostly controlled by gene. Correlation and path coefficient analyses revealed that days to first curd initiation, whole plant weight, marketable curd weight, curd breadth, and leaf length had strong positive associations and direct effects on curd yield, identifying them as major selection indices, suggesting these traits as key selection criteria for curd yield improvement in cauliflower genotypes. Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 50(4): 407-421, December 2025