Character Association and Path Analysis in Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) for Yield and Its Attributes

The field experiment was carried out in Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture at Banda University of Agriculture and Technology during kharif to evaluate the 15 bitter gourd genotypes with three replications in randomized block design were to correlation and path coefficient for yield and its component traits. At phenotypic level fruit yield per plot displayed positive and highly significant correlation with internodal length, number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, fruit length, vine length and number of primary branches per plant. At genotypic level fruit yield per plot exhibited positive and significant correlation with number of primary branches per plant, intermodal length, number of fruits per plant, vine length, average fruit weight and fruit length. Path analysis at phenotypic level have highest positive direct effect on yield per plot was exerted by average fruit weight followed by number of fruits per plant, days to first male flower anthesis, node number to first pistillate flower, fruit length, intermodal length and node number to first stamin ate flower. At genotypic level, highest positive direct effect on yield per plot was exerted by average fruit weight followed by number of fruits per plant, internodal length, node number to first pistillate flower, TSS and days to first female flower anthesis.