GENETIC VARIABILITY AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION STUDIES IN SLICING CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus L.)
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Date
2019-09
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University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot
Abstract
A field experiment “Genetic variability and character association studies in slicing cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)” was carried out in the field of Vegetable Science of Kittur Rani Chennamma, College of Horticulture, Arabhavi, during the year 2018-19 with twenty six genotypes replicated twice in Randomized block design. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among all the genotypes for all the characters under study.
The characters such as number of branches, fruit length, average fruit weight, fruit yield per vine, fruit yield per plot and fruit yield per hectare recorded high PCV and GCV. This indicated maximum variability and offers good scope for crop improvement by simple selection. High estimates of heritability coupled with high values of GAM were observed for all the characters under study except for days to first male flowering, days to first female flowering and number of fruits per vine, this indicates predominance of additive component for these traits and hence direct selection would be more effective in improvement of these traits.
The results of correlation analysis revealed that the fruit yield per vine had significant and positive association with average fruit weight, fruit length, number of branches at 75 DAS, fruit diameter, vine length at 60 DAS, flesh thickness and total soluble solids. Path coefficient analysis revealed that average fruit weight, fruit diameter and number of fruits per vine had high direct positive effect on fruit yield indicating their true positive and significant association with yield.
Based on Mahalanobis‟s D2 analysis, the 26 genotypes were grouped into five clusters. The cluster III showed maximum intra-cluster distance, whereas, the maximum inter cluster distance was observed between cluster III and II. Average fruit weight contributed maximum to genetic diversity. Genotypes viz., Noida collection, Poinsette, Cucumber green, Maharaj and Koppal local-6 were recorded high fruit yield per vine. Therefore, these genotypes can be further assessed for their stability.