Evaluation and characterization of bidi and natu Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) germplasm lines

Nicotiana tabacum is the worldwide cultivating tobacco for its leaves for human use after processing. The demand for the tobacco crop is not compromising in the national and international markets and it is commercial in creating employment to the millions of people in the country. To meet the demand, there is a need to develop high cured leaf yielding varieties suitable to the particular environments and other challenges. To formulate the breeding objective, present study aims to characterise the available germplasm lines of bidi and natu tobacco types for the variation in plant, leaf and flower characteristics. Further to identify the genetic diversity present in tobacco germplasm lines. Out of 71 lines, 53 bidi and 18 natu tobacco lines for twenty-nine characters including both qualitative (visual examination) and quantitative characters during 2022-23 at tobacco field of Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Nandyal of Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh. The results showed a wide range of variation in the studied germplasm lines for most of the traits indicated that the lines can be further utilized in breeding programmes in development of high yielding tobacco varieties suitable in moisture stress regions in future.