Screening of mango hybrid population for identifying nutritionally rich hybrids - A special focus on carotenoids

Abstract

In the present study 109 F1 hybrids were evaluated for nutraceuticals such as total antioxidants, total phenols, total flavonoids and total carotenoids to identify nutritionally rich superior hybrids in mango. Genetic variability assessed for genetic parameters viz., genotypic variance, phenotypic variance, genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), heritability and genetic advance shown the presence of wide genetic variability in F1 hybrid population of mango for nutritional compounds. The total phenol content varied from 22.78 to 170.14 mg 100g-1 of pulp, total flavonoids from 5.07- 37.33 mg 100g-1, total carotenoids ranged from 1.42 - 16.79 mg 100g-1 and the total antioxidants were in the range of 0.26-1.43 μmol Trolox 100g-1 of pulp. The narrow difference between phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation for all the traits indicated the predominance of genotypic variability. The broad sense heritability (H2) for all the compounds was high indicating that phenotype aptly reflects its genotype. In conclusion, the four carotenoids rich hybrids viz. H-4509 H-3432 H-4252 and H-3946 were identified with 16.79 100g-1, 11.37 100g-1, 10.42 100g-1 and 10.03 100g-1 carotenoids content respectively. These hybrids could possibly serve as elite parents in crop improvement programme.