Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) is a significant vegetable crop cultivated worldwide. However, yields of okra are low, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana. Genetic variability in agronomic traits is a key component of breeding improved varieties. This study aimed to assess the level of genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and correlation among nineteen traits of okra. It involved forty (40) local collections of okra accessions from farmers in all the agroecological zones of Ghana. The study was conducted at the Agricultural Experimental Field, Sunyani Technical University, Ghana, using a 5 × 8 alpha lattice design with three replications between September, 2020 and February, 2021. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed significant (p < 0.01) differences among the accessions for all the traits studied. All traits except stem diameter, leaf length and breadth, recorded moderate to high genotypic coefficient of variability (GCV) in close magnitude to phenotypic coefficient of variability (PCV). Heritability values ranged from 45.02 to 96.93%, while genetic advance expressed as percentage of mean ranged from 11.07 to 89.91%. High broad sense heritability estimates with high genetic advance expressed as percentage of mean were observed for earliness and yield related traits viz days to first flowering (93.56% and 30.99%), days to first fruiting ( 90.11 and 32.60%), crop duration ( 83.01 and 36.57%), days to 50% emergence (68.6 and 26.90%), number of fruits per plant (93.16 and 65.95%), fresh fruit weight (92.37 and 59.99%), fruit length (93.46 and 51.61%), fruit width (94.82 and 45.20%), yield per plant (89.77 and 80.27%), hundred seed weight (69.72 and 26.45%.) and number of seeds per fruit. (66.38 and 23.07%). Similarly, high broad sense heritability and high genetic advance estimates were observed in agronomic traits such as maximum plant height ( 96.93 and 51.90%),, number of leaves (90.12 and 46.67%), number of branches (91.52 and 89.91%), number of internodes (68.79 and 32.36%) and internode length (79.88 and 57.42%), At the same time, moderate heritability and genetic advance were recorded for leaf length (56.07 and 13.08%) stem diameter (45.02 and 11.38%) and leaf breadth (47.16 and 11.07%) Correlation analysis between pairs of quantitative traits also demonstrated that number of internodes, number of branches, number of leaves per plant, fruit weight and number of fruits significantly and positively correlated with fruit yield making them good indicators for selection. The study revealed substantial genetic variability, with high heritability and genetic advance in key yield-related traits, indicating strong potential for effective selection in Ghanaian okra germplasm. These findings justify accelerated okra improvement to enhance food and nutrition security in Ghana and the wider African sub-region. Future work should focus on selecting high-gain parental combinations, developing trait-based selection indices, and validating elite accessions across multiple environments to support precision breeding for resilient, high-yielding varieties. Moderate to high genetic variability exist among Ghanaian okra genotypes in terms of yield-related traits. High broad sense heritability associated with high genetic advance expressed as percentage of mean were observed for yield-related traits in okra. Number of internodes, number of branches, number of leaves per plant, fruit weight and number of fruits significantly and positively correlated with fruit yield in okra making them good indicators for selection.
Appiah et al. (Thu,) studied this question.