Sky Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 6(2), pp. 015 - 021, February, 2017 Available online http://www.skyjournals.org/SJAR ISSN 2315-8751 ©2017 Sky Journals Full Length Research Paper Variability, correlation and heritability studies in West African okra (Abelmoschus caillei) Chinatu, L. N.*, Okocha, P. I., Okoronkwo, C. M. and Harriman, J. C Department of Agronomy, College of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. P. M. B., 7267, Abia State, Nigeria. Accepted 2 February, 2017 Nine (9) varieties of Abelmoschus caillei were evaluated for yield and yield components in a randomized complete block design replicated three times at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. F 1 hybrids were raised through crosses between parents. Backcross 1 , Backcross 2 and F 2 plants were raised from F 1 . The total variance was partitioned into genetic and environmental variances and showed that large heritable variations existed among the varieties. High genotypic coefficient of variation, high broad sense heritability (82.42 – 94.03) estimates and high genetic advance (32.49 -40.47) with moderate to high narrow sense heritability (0.500 – 0.810) for plant height, number of leaves/plant, number of pods/plant and their high correlation coefficients, with fresh pod yield confirmed that vast potentials exist for A. caillei improvement through selection of desirable characters such as plant height, number of leaves/plant and number of pods/ plant. Selection from crosses between these genotypes: NGAE-96-012-1x OWODE, NGAE-96-0067 x OWODE and NGAE-96-0067 x NCRI-02 with very high narrow sense heritability estimates could be made during early segregating generations. Key words: Abelmoschus caillei, yield, correlation studies, phenotypic variation, heritability. INTRODUCTION West African okra (A. caillei (A. Chev) is an important vegetable crop of tropical and subtropical world. A short day plantwith green stem (Adeniji et al., 2007) which has slight traces of red pigmentation in some accessions (Adeniji, 2003), and is cultivated for fresh pods, leaves and seeds. Siemonsma (1982) reported that A. caillei contained 194 diploid chromosomes against 130 of A. esculentus, indicating that A. caillei constitutes a new okra species. Its high yield and hardiness have made it a major source of okra pods in Nigeria and cultivation is progressively replacing A. esculentus (Kehinde, 1999). It has potential for industrial, nutritional and biomedical uses in developing countries, but is under-utilized in sub- Saharan Africa (Adeniji et al., 2007). A. caillei is photoperiod sensitive (Kehinde, 2001; Adeniji and Kehinde, 2004). Okra contains moderate levels of some *Corresponding author. Email: lawrencechinatu@yahoo.com. Tel.: +2347034740325. essential mineral and vitamins which are important for body metabolic processes that utilize carbohydrates, proteins and fats (FAO, 2008). The immature fruits are eaten either fresh or prepared by boiling or frying, and used in soup and stews. Pods and seeds are rich in phenolic compounds and hydroxycinnamic derivatives (Arapitsas, 2008). Dietary portfolio studies have indicated that eating plant based diets (rich in viscous fibres) may be an effective strategy of reducing low - density lipoprotein cholesterol in humans. Fortunately, okra and eggplant are the most important vegetable sources of viscous fibre (Kendall and Jenkins, 2004). Genetic improvement using available germplasm within the genus Abelmoschus is highly desirable to improve its yield, sinceunavailability of improved and early maturing varieties are the major constraints in the cultivation of A. caillei (Kehinde, 1999). Improvement of any crop depends on the magnitude of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance of yield related traits (Nwofia and Adikibe, 2012; Chinatu and Ukpaka, 2016).