Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Ranchi 834 002.
A total of 23 genotypes of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L) collected from diverse sources of the country were used to estimate genetic variation and heritability for growth, flowering and yield component characters. The heritability estimates ranged from 0.02 to 48 per cent for number of fruits per plot and fruit length, respectively. Low heritability for number of fruits and yield per plot suggests that environmental effects contributed a major portion of the total phenotypic variation. High heritability coupled with high GA for fruit length, fruit breadth and fruit weight might be due to additive gene action and selection pressure could be applied for these characters. Yield per plot was significant and positively correlated with vine length, fruit length, fruit weight, fruit breadth, flesh thickness and placental thickness. Path-analysis of yield and its components revealed that vine length, days to female flower appearance, fruit weight and fruit length had positive direct effect on yield. When correlations and path-analysis are viewed together, it revealed that the yield improvement in cucumber can be achieved by selection for vine length, days to female flower appearance, fruit weight, fruit length, fruit breadth and flesh thickness.
