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Full Research Article

Morphological Characterization and Shannon-weaver Diversity Index (H’) of Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] Germplasm

Balagoni Maruthi1,*, Sibsankar Das1, Arup Chattopadhayay1, Umesh Thapa1, Anirban Maji2, Pranab Hazra1
1Department of Vegetable Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741 252, West Bengal, India.
2Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741 252, West Bengal, India.

ABSTRACT

Background: The current evaluation centered on phenotypic qualitative traits of okra as per DUS guidelines to assess the novelty and diversity in okra genotypes. Plant breeders may take advantage of these morphological traits to make sustainable use of the okra germplasm.

Methods: This investigation was carried out at the teaching farm, extended campus of BCKV, Burdwan during spring summer and rainy seasons, in 2021 to examine the phenotypic distinctions between 50 open-pollinated okra varieties for 15 morphological traits. These genotypes were gathered from various regions of India.

Result: In the current study out of 50 genotypes, 24 genotypes (48.00%) showed medium depth of leaf blade, 68 % genotypes showed light green stem colour, 68% genotypes were shown light green vein colour, 62% genotypes showed yellow petal colour, petal base colour was both sides (BS) in 72% of the genotypes, fruit pubescence was absent in 4% of the genotypes, fruit surface was concave in 62% of the genotypes, constriction of the fruit basal part was weak in 62% of genotypes, narrow acute fruit shape of the apex in 48% of the genotypes, fruit colour was the green in 60% of the genotypes, fruit locules were less than six and seed colour was green in all genotypes. Shannon Diversity H’ value varied from 0 to 1.206. The fruit pubescence character showed highest diversity (1.206) followed by depth of leaf lobbing (1.038), fruit shape of the apex (0.973) and fruit length at marketable stage (0.947). Seed colour, fruit locule number and serration of the leaf blade’s margin did not show any diversity among the genotypes.

INTRODUCTION

Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] is a prominent vegetable crop in India, usually called as lady’s finger (Maruthi et al., 2023). This vegetable crop is widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions during the summer and rainy seasons (Bagwale et al., 2016). The origin of bhindi is still a controversy, with supporters of South Asian, Ethiopian and West African origins (Ranga et al., 2019). Characteri-zation of germplasm gives details about the attributes held by each genotype, ensuring that end users achieve the best advantage of the germplasm collection (Reddy et al., 2016). Morphological traits are the oldest and most widely used genetic markers and they could continue to be useful for some germplasm management tasks (Bretting and Widrlechner, 1995). According to Arslanoglu et al., (2011), phenotypic evaluation is the foremost step in the descri-ption, categorization and arranging of germplasm collections. Vegetable breeders looking for novel trait genes must morphologically characterize the landraces, germplasms, genotypes and local cultivars (Reddy et al., 2016). Multiple researchers emphasized the possibility of bhindi improvement through the investigation of genetic resources (Oppong-Sekyere et al., 2011).

The current work seeks to describe, evaluate and com-pare the accurate morphological traits of okra genotypes to discover their variability and uniqueness. The primary goal of the research was to familiarize okra breeders with acceptable morphological descriptor states that may be employed as prospective breeding features for generating farmer-driven bhindi varieties.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Overview of research area
 
The current investigation was carried out at the teaching farm, extended campus of BCKV, Burdwan during spring summer and rainy seasons, in 2021 to examine the phenotypic distinctions among 50 open-pollinated okra varieties.
 
Materials and designs used in experiments
 
The study included 50 different bhindi genotypes grown in a randomised block design and had three replications (during spring summer and rainy season, 2021). The plot size was 3.0 m x 2.7 m (8.1 m2), with rows 60 cm apart and plants 30 cm apart. Ten days following seed germination, the seedlings were thinned to leave one healthy, strong seedling per hill.
 
Morphological observations to be recorded
 
As many as 15 qualitative traits viz., leaf blade (depth, serra-tion of margin), stem colour, vein colour, flower (petal colour, petal base colour), fruit (pubescence, surface between ridges, colour, no. of locules, shape of apex, constriction of basal part, fruit length (cm) at tender marketable stages, length (cm) at physiological mature stage) and seed (colour) attributes were noticed in 50 genotypes of okra as per the minimal descriptors based on DUS guidelines (Table 1) of NBPGR (2011) to characterize the  present genotypes of bhindi during the course of the investigation. The above characters were noticed at appropriate stage of plant growth. Shannon Waver Diversity Index (H’) is a frequently used diversity metric that takes into account both the abundance and evenness of species or traits within a group (Shannon, 1948). The formula below explains it:

Table 1: Okra descriptors (as per DUS guidelines).


 
 
 
Where:
p = Percentage (n/N) of individuals of one specific species discovered.
(n) = Divided by the entire number of individuals identified. (N), ln = Natural log.
Σ = Sum of the computations and’s’ is the number of species.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Leaf and stem characters
 
Out of 50 genotypes, 24 genotypes (48.00%) showed medium depth of leaf blade, 16 genotypes (32.00%) showed deep depth of leaf blade and 10 genotypes (20.00%) showed shallow depth of leaf blade (the leaf characteristic were shown in the (Plate 1). The stem colour of the genotypes varied with 68 % of genotypes light green, 12 % green and 20 % light red. Serration of the margin of the leaf blade was observed in all 50 genotypes. For vein colour among all genotypes, 68 % were shown light green, 28 % showed green vein colour and 4 % genotypes displa-yed purple colour.

Plate 1: Variation in the leaf characteristics of some genotypes.



Flower characters
 
In the case of the petal colour of the flower, 62% of genotypes showed yellow colour and 38% showed light yellow colour. Petal base colour (as shown in Plate 2) was inside (IS) in 28% of the genotypes and both sides (BS) in 72% of the genotypes.

Plate 2: Petal base colour.


 
Fruit characters
 
Fruit pubescence was absent in 4% of genotypes, weak in 30% of  genotypes, medium in the 40% of  genotypes and strong in 26% of the genotypes. Fruit surface between ridges (as shown in Plate 4) was concave in 62% of the genotypes, flat in 36 % of genotypes and convex in 2 % of the genotypes studied. Constriction of the fruit basal part was absent in 26% of the genotypes, weak in 62% of genotypes and strong in 12% of the genotypes. The fruit shape of the apex (as shown in Plate 3) was narrow acute in 48% of the genotypes, acute in 40% of the genotypes and blunt in 12% of the genotypes. Fruit locules were less than 6 in all the genotypes studied. Colour of the fruit was light green in 40% of the genotypes and green in 60 % of the genotypes. Fruit length (at marketable stage) was small in 28% of the genotypes, medium in 58% of the genotypes and long in 14% of the genotypes. Fruit length (at the physiological mature stage) was medium in 26% of genotypes and long in 74% of the genotypes. The seed colour was green in all the genotypes studied.

Plate 3: Fruit shape of the apex.



Plate 4: Fruit surface between ridges.



The morphological characterization of all 50 genotypes for 15 qualitative traits were shown in the Table 2 to 5. According to Reddy et al., (2016), it is vital to include qualitative attributes in the characterization, recognition and description of diversity in okra genotypes. Characterization of bhindi genotypes based on qualitative traits was similarly carried out earlier by Islam (2022), Mohammad et al., (2022), Roy (2022) and Pranay (2022).

Table 2: Morphological characterization of 50 bhindi genotypes based on qualitative traits.



Table 3: Morphological characterization of 50 bhindi genotypes based on qualitative traits.



Table 4: Morphological characterization of 50 bhindi genotypes based on qualitative traits.



Table 5: Frequency distribution for various qualitative traits in 50 Bhindi genotypes.



Morphological characterization data is crucial for detecting diagnostic features in various genotypes. This allows plant breeders to pick suitable genotypes with distinguishing attributes for crop improvement programs (Chavan et al., 2018).

Characterizing genetic resources allows accessions to be chosen, differentiated, or distinguished based on their characteristics. Qualitative feature description offers insights into genetic diversity enabling development of agriculture, utilization of genetic resources from plants and conservation (Reddy et al., 2023).
 
Shannon-weaver diversity index (H’)
 
The frequency distributions were utilized to assess the H’ for every attribute (Hennink and Zeven, 1991). H’ of 50 okra genotypes were assessed from 15 phenotypic traits and findings were shown in the Table 5. High H’ with an overall mean of 0.659 was acquired, reflecting the prevalence of diversity among the bhindi genotypes.

In this current study, the H’ value ranged from 0 to 1.206. The fruit pubescence character showed highest diversity (1.206) followed by depth of leaf lobbing (1.038), fruit shape of the apex (0.973) and fruit length at marketable stage (0.947). Seed colour, fruit locule number and serration of the margin of the leaf blade did not show any diversity among the genotypes.

Crop biodiversity may be summarized by two components: evenness and richness at allelic level. In phenotypic evaluation, the descriptor and descriptor states correspond to the locus and alleles, respectively. In this study, allelic evenness has been evaluated using the H’, while allelic richness was obtained by counting the descriptor states for every descriptor without regard to frequency. Richness is the number of genotypes found in a particular region, whereas evenness is the relative abundance of each genotype.

The value of the (H’) for all the traits ranged from 0 to 1.206. A high (H’) with an overall mean of 65.9% was obtained, which implies the presence of variation among the genotypes. The (H’) can vary between 0 to 4.6. A score around 0 suggested that all genotypes in the population were the same, while a value near 4.6 showed that the number of individuals was evenly distributed among the various genotypes. A low (H’) indicates a lack of diversity for the parameters and an uneven frequency class. According to Hennink and Zeven (1991), a high H’ value suggests that the feature is diverse or variable. Unbalanced frequency class and a lack of variety for the qualities are indicated by values that are lower than the overall mean.

Gangopadhyay et al. (2010); Islam (2022); Roy (2022) also investigated the (H’) and they observed highly divergent qualitative parameters in bhindi genotypes.

CONCLUSION

The study of angiosperm morphology focusses on the phy-sical characteristics of plants. It plays an important role in plant identification, categorization and description. The main objective of vegetable breeding programs is to produce new cultivars with remarkable combinations of horti-culturally pleasing characteristics. Incorporating favorable charac-teristics from these genotypes into current kinds promotes the development of culture, which can be used for many pur-poses. Create a customer-driven diversity.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors have no conflict of interest.

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