Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the genetic variability and character association in 33 Nigerian accessions of Corchorus olitorius at Benin City in Southern Nigeria. The experiment was set-up using the randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were collected on agronomic traits including leaf yield. Analysis of Variance for leaf yield and all agronomic characters measured indicated highly significant genotypic differences among the accessions. Plant height at flowering ranged from 80.53 cm to 155.18 cm; leaf yield varied between 2.52 t/ha and 8.86 t/ha. The leaf yield of 24% of the accessions exceeded 5 t/ha. Variance components analysis indicated that the broad-sense heritability (29.69 - 98.97%) and the genetic advance (16.59 - 156.88%) values for most characters ranged from moderate to high. Correlation and path analyses further revealed that attributes such as plant height, fresh shoot weight, number of branches per plant, and days to pod maturity had significant positive correlations and contributed positively to leaf yield. These characters could be used to indirectly select for leaf yield. These findings collectively offer valuable guidance for designing breeding programs aimed at enhancing both productivity and adaptability of C. olitorius cultivars for Nigeria and other regions of West Africa