Variation, diversity pattern and choice of parental selection in musk melon (cucumis melo L.) improvement

A diverse genetic base is important to breeding process. The genetic base of muskmelon lines collected from India and USA is wide and can be exploited for muskmelon improvement programme. The results revealed that high and significant variation was found among 34 musk melon inbreds for all the characters studied except node at which female flower appeared as evidenced by high value of variance ratio. Utilizing generalized distance and canonical analysis, the divergence in the population of muskmelon has been assessed and revealed that considerable genetic diversity. The 34 muskmelon inbreds fell into 8 clusters in well-distributed pattern. All the exotic collections were fell in separate clusters. The results indicated that geographical isolation has contributed much towards divergence in exotic populations and is possibly due to differences in the genotype background and might have contributed variability among the inbred lines tested. It is concluded that for management of diversity, the cluster analysis may be the single most effective one. Parents carefully be chosen with respect to clusters would help in development of potential hybrids and as well as lines from transgressive segregants.