Vol. 10, Issue 5 (2021)

Author(s):
B Chandramouli, RVSK Reddy, M Ravindra Babu, K Uma Jyothi, K Umakrishna and M Paratpara Rao

Abstract:
The present investigation was carried out to estimate phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation, heritability (broad sense) and genetic advance as percent of mean in F2 generation for twelve characters in four promising crosses of bottle gourd. Among the crosses studied, cross 3 (Pusa Sandesh x Arka Bahar), cross 2 (Pusa Naveen x Pusa Santhusti) and cross 1 (Pusa Naveen x Local Round) exhibited superior per se performance for almost all the yield contributing characters. The estimates of PCV was significantly higher than GCV for all the traits in all the cross combinations. The difference between the phenotypic coefficient of variation and genotypic coefficient of variation was found to be more for vine length, number of nodes per vine, number of branches per vine, number of fruits per vine, average fruit weight and fruit yield thus indicating that the variation was not only due to genotypes but also due to environmental influence. Moderate to high heritability coupled with high genetic advance observed in all the crosses for fruit yield per vine indicating preponderance of additive gene action governing the inheritance of this character and offers the best possibility of improvement through simple selection procedure. Moderate to high heritability coupled with moderate to high genetic advance as percentage of mean indicates the action of both additive and non-additive genes as in case of number of nodes per vine, number of branches per plant, internodal length, node at which first male flower appeared, node at which first female flower appeared, number of fruits per vine, average fruit weight and TSS content. Hence, direct selection has limited scope for further improvement of these traits.