Genotypic and phenotypic variability in Vernonia galamensis germplasm collected from eastern Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the centre of origin and diversity of Vernonia galamensis, which is a new potential industrial oilseed crop. Seeds of Vernonia are rich in vernolic acid, a naturally epoxidized fatty acid with unique chemical (epoxy) and physical (low viscosity) properties. Vernolic acid is a useful raw material for manufacturing paints and coatings. No effort has been made so far in Ethiopia or elsewhere to improve this plant. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in three contrasting agroclimatic zones (Alemaya, Harar and Babile) using eight accessions to assess the genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficients of variation, to estimate broad sense heritability (h(2)B) and genetic advance (GA) as a per cent of the mean for 17 pheno-morphic and agronomic traits. Considering GCV, h(2)B and GA (as per cent of the mean) simultaneously as the best estimators of the amount of advance expected from selection, secondary head number (28.90, 0.90 and 56.60), secondary branch number (13.90, 0.67 and 51.97), and seed number per head (15.97, 0.72 and 27.92) gave the highest values at Alemaya, Harar and Babile, respectively. This shows that a satisfactory selection program for improvement of these characters is possible in V. galamensis var. ethiopica at each specific location.