Delineating the genetic variability, inter-relationship and morphological variations in water chestnut for nut yield and mineral composition

The fresh, edible fruit-nut of the water chestnut, an annual herb found in water, is an important aquatic crop. There is an enormous variation in water chestnut growth and yield, which is not extensively recorded in India. The yield performance of 23 water chestnut lines was examined in the present investigation. Crop variability contributes to the effective application of plant characteristics in the creation of stable and productive cultivars. The present study was conducted in 2020-2021 on water chestnut (Trapa spp.) accessions in order to assess the degree of genetic variability and yield character relationships. The genotypic coefficient of variation and heritability estimations were high for Zn, Mn and Fe content in rind, number of spines per nut, pedicel length, 10 dried nut rind weight, number of leaves per plant, number of nuts per plant, leaf length and fresh nut yield per plant. The following traits showed low heritability estimates and genotypic coefficients of variation: leaf width, nut pedicel length, weight of a single fresh nut, weight of a single shelled nut, and TSS. Fresh nut yield per plant was positively and significantly associated with the number of leaves per plant and the weight of 10 fresh nuts. To improve fruit-nut yield in water chestnut, selection criteria such as number of leaves per plant, number of nuts per plant, fruit pedicel length, fresh nut weight, TSS, 10 fresh nut weight and 10 fresh nut rind weight could be applied in different crop improvement programmes of water chestnut.