Studies on genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and character association for various quantitative traits in bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.] genotypes

Thirty-sevendiverse genotypes of bottle gourdwere evaluated to access the relative performance, genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and simultaneously to study the nature and magnitude of associations between yield and its contributing characters. The genotypes were sown under RBD in three replications at Vegetable Research Farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during the Spring Summer season of 2017–18. Results attained from analysis of variance reportedthat there were substantial differences among the genotypes unveiling the plausible presence of significant genetic variability, which could be positively exploited in crop improvement programmes. The highest GCV (18.90) and PCV (18.96) were observed for vine length. In addition to this, fruit yield was found significantly and positively correlated with number of fruits per vine, number of primary branches per vine and average fruit weight. The path analysis indicated that the days to first female flowering, number of fruits per vine, nodes to first female flower, length of fruit and average fruit weight were the most propitious characters directly influencing the dependent variable viz. fruit yield/ha.