Genetic variability and heritability of yield-related traits in sweet corn genotypes

Abstract:

The present study was conducted to assess genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for yield and quality traits in 20 sweet corn genotypes comprising 17 test entries and three checks. The experiment was conducted during Kharif 2025 at Kolhapur in a randomized block design with three replications. Significant differences among genotypes were observed for all 17 traits studied, indicating substantial genetic variability. The genotypic coefficient of variation was lower than the phenotypic coefficient of variation for all traits, suggesting environmental influence on trait expression. High broad-sense heritability was observed for reducing sugar (87.36%), sucrose (79.72%), cob height (70.61%) and 100-kernel weight (60.85%), with reducing sugar showing the highest genetic advance as percentage of mean (38.22%). The findings indicate good potential for selection based on traits exhibiting high heritability coupled with higher genetic advance. Among the genotypes, 60009 recorded the highest cob yield per plant (323.00 g), while PTKSC 25406 exhibited desirable quality attributes with the highest Brix (17.03%), reducing sugar (3.27%) and sucrose (24.69%). These genotypes may serve as promising materials for further evaluation and sweet corn breeding programmes.