Variability Assessment of Some Morphological Traits

Pinus wallichiana dominated forest communities, located in the Hindukush ranges of Swat, Pakistan were analysed for variability in the cone and seed traits. The results disclosed significant variability in mean values, critical difference, coefficient of variation, broad sense heritability, genetic gain and genetic advance. Genotypic variance (Vg) and genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV) were noted to be lower than the corresponding environmental variance (Ve) and environmental coefficient of variability (ECV) for most of the parameters which clearly shows that these traits are under the control of environment. Both Number of male clusters/branch and 100 seeds weight are heritable traits as having higher genotypic variance and genotypic coefficient of variance. Traits like 100 seeds weight, Number of male cluster/branch, number of female cones/tree, female cone weight and number of sterile scales/cone showed moderate to high percentage of heritability indicates that these traits are under strong genetic control. These heritable additive genetic traits can be used for future breeding and tree improvement plans for the species. It is further concluded that the alleged traits should be given priority while selecting superior genotypes.