An experiment was conducted with one hundred ten genotypes to assess the genetic variability, heritability (h2), genetic advance and genetic divergence for ten quantitative traits related with fruit yield in ridge gourd during rainy season of 2008. Highly significant differences between genotypes were recorded for all the traits. Maximum range of mean values was observed for fruit weight (20–313). The values of GCV and PCV were recorded highest for fruit weight (43.70 & 43.86) followed by number of nodes to first male flower (41.43 & 42.77), fruit yield per plant (40.90 & 42.59). High genetic advance coupled with high heritability were found for characters viz; average fruit weight, number of nodes to first male flower, number of nodes to first female flower, fruit yield per plant, fruit length suggested that there is a scope for improvement in these characters through direct phenotypic selection. The hundred ten genotypes were grouped into seven cluster based on their D values. It was found that cluster I had maximum divergence with cluster V (5.658) and VII (5.530) suggesting hereby selection of divergent parents may be useful for heterosis breeding in ridge gourd.
