Studies on Genetic Divergence of Parental Lines and Their F1 Progeny in Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.]

The current experiment was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. In present investigation forty-three genotypes (10 lines + 3 testers + 30 F1’s) of bottle gourd were grouped into seven distinct non over lapping clusters. This suggested that the genotypes had a significant amount of variability. Additionally, it was discovered that the genotypes belonging to the same geographic area were clustered together. Thus, there was no consistent relationship between genetic divergence and geographical distribution. Number of genotypes per cluster ranged from fifteen to one. The cluster II was the largest with fifteen genotypes followed by cluster III and cluster I, cluster VII, cluster VI while, cluster IV had one genotype. The maximum intra cluster distance was recorded in cluster VII followed by cluster V and cluster III. Maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster I and V followed by that between cluster V and VI and cluster III and VI. The higher inter cluster distance indicated greater genetic divergences between the genotypes of those clusters. The inter-cluster distance was least between cluster IV and VI indicated, that the genotypes of these clusters were genetically least diverse and with almost of the same genetic architecture. Percent character contribution towards genetic divergence among the bottle gourd genotypes were maximum for fruit length followed by days to first harvest, fruit circumference, node number to first pistillate flower appearance and number of primary branches plant-1. Therefore, these traits must be included while studying genetic divergence in bottle gourd. The results suggested that crosses between selected lines/F1’s from widely separated clusters are most likely to give desirable recombinants/hybrids.