Correlation studies in pod and seed traits of Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre., a potential agroforestry tree.

Pongamia pinnata is a fast growing leguminous tree with high potential for biodiesel production. The seeds of Pongamia contain 30 to 40% oil which can be converted to biodiesel by transesterification with methanol in the presence of KOH. Thirty candidate plus trees (CPTs) of Pongamia pinnata were selected from 30 different locations in Uttar Pradesh for the study of correlation in pod and seed characters. The degree of correlation coefficient at genotypic level was exhibited higher than their corresponding phenotypic coefficient of correlations in almost all the pod and seed traits indicating the strong genetic association among the characters. Pod length and 100-seed weight; pod width and seed width; pod thickness and seed thickness; seed length and seed width; seed width and 100-seed weight; and seed thickness and 100-seed weight had highly significant positive correlation witheach other, and these characters should be considered as effective parameters to select CPTs. Biomass of seedling was found to have significant positive relationship (at 1% level of significance) with 100-seed weight, seed thickness, seed width, seed length and pod length. The result showed that 100-seed weight and seed thickness had highly significant and positive correlation with biomass of seedling. Hence, these two traits can be directly selected for higher yielding genotype.