Analysis of Genetic Variability, Correlation and Path Coefficients for Various Agronomic and Quality Traits in Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.] Genotypes

The study was conducted during Kharif season of 2023 in the Experiment Field of Urban Technological Park Habbak, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. The experiment was conducted based on Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications and a plant spacing of 2 × 1 m. A total of 41 bottle gourd genotypes, 2 of which were checks – Pusa Naveen and Pusa Santushti, were studied. Observations were taken on growth, yield attributes, seed traits and quality parameters. Analysis of variance showed considerable differences exist among the genotypes for all the traits. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was found marginally greater than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits, which indicates insignificant environmental influence. For the seed cavity width the highest PCV and GCV values were recorded 56.43 and 56.33 respectively. The high estimates of heritability along with high genetic gain were observed in fruit diameter (0.990 and 79.83) which suggests that selection would be effective due to the predominance of additive genetic effects. Broad-sense heritability estimates across all the traits appeared high ranging from 77% to 99%. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationship between fruit yield per hectare and fruit yield per plant, average fruit weight, vine length, number of primary branches, and number of fruits per plant. The assessment by the path coefficient analysis results showed that the strongest direct effects were: average fruit weight, number of primary branches, number of fruits per plant, and vine length on the yield per hectare.