Understanding the genetic relationships among different promising lines is crucial for crop improvement programmes. This study aimed to identify the best-performing ashwagandha lines among seven under evaluation by assessing genetic variability, broad-sense heritability, and genetic advance in terms of growth, yield and quality traits. The research was conducted at the College of Horticulture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, under SKLTSHU during the late Kharif season of 2023-24. A Randomized Block Design with three replications was used. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the seven promising lines, indicating a substantial level of variability across all 19 traits evaluated. The close similarity between the Phenotypic Coefficient of Variation (PCV) and Genotypic Coefficient of Variation (GCV) suggests that environmental factors had a minimal impact on the expression of these traits. High estimates of PCV and GCV were observed for traits such as plant height, number of branches per plant, leaf width, days to flower initiation, main root length, main root diameter, fresh root weight per plant, dry root yield per plant, fresh root yield per plot, dry root yield per plot, fresh root yield per hectare and dry root yield per hectare. High heritability, coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean, indicates the predominance of additive gene action in the traits studied. This suggests that effective selection can be based on traits such as plant height, number of branches per plant, leaf length, days to flower initiation, main root length, main root diameter, fresh root weight per plant, fresh root yield per plot, fresh root yield per hectare, dry root yield per plant, dry root yield per plot, dry root yield per hectare, dry recovery, starch content, crude fiber content and total alkaloid content.
The study identified three superior promising lines-NMITLI-101, CIM-CHETAK, and IC-286632-that demonstrated outstanding performance in both yield and quality traits. These lines show great potential for future use in crop improvement programs.
