Important of some OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) Characters Under Drought Conditions

Abstract

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), Is one of the important vegetable crops, belonging to the family Malvaceae, it is called "okra" in English and "gombo" in French. It is widely grown throught tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world (Joshi and Hardas, 1976).

Okra is grown mainly for its immature pods, but many people in Africa also eat the young shoots and leaves (Oiasantan, 1986). It has high nutritional value, contains protein, carbohydrate, fats, fibers, minerals, oil and vitamins (Watt and Merril, 1963).

In Egypt, it is grown during the summer season for providing edible fruits (pods) for cooking as fresh, green frozen, canned or in the dry states. The so-called "Balady" cultivar is the major locally adapted cultivar grown in all parts of Egypt. This cultivar is generally characterized by its sping, _. dark green, quick developing resulting in fibrous-fruits and late maturity (Shalaby, 1975, Hussein, 1994 and Youssef, 1996). However, other okra · genotypes or cultivars grown in Egypt are very limited due to consumer preferability (Farghali et al., 1994) and/or less tolerant to adverse conditions (e.g. drought, heat disease, etc.) that prevail nowadays especially under the prolonged demand for such commodity. There is a great need to improve their characters.

The breeders are interested on developing cultivars with improved yield and other desirable agronomic characters. To achieve this goal breeders have the option of selecting desirable genotypes in early generation or delaying intense selection untill advanced generations, when progenies become nearly homozygous and depending on preliminary yield