Study on genetic divergence among the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria L.) genotypes

An experiment was carried out at the Horticulture research center (HRC) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology Meerut - 250110 during the summer season of 2019. Thirty-one genotypes of bottle gourd were evaluated for genetic diversity analysis. All 31 genotypes fall in 06 different clusters. Cluster VI had the maximum (08) genotypes while cluster II had minimum (02) genotypes. Genetic stocks within a cluster had smaller D² values among themselves than those belonging to a different cluster. The inter-cluster distance was maximum (3.30) in cluster IV whereas, it was minimum (1.96) in cluster II. Maximum average inter-cluster distance (10.41) was recorded between cluster II and IV suggesting the greater chances of getting superior hybrids in F1 or transgressive segregate in subsequent generations. Genotype in cluster I was maximum fruit length (cm), fruit girth (cm). Cluster II was minimum Internodes length (cm). Genotypes in cluster III had maximum vine length (cm), number of nodes per plant, fruit weight (gm), and duration of crop in days. Cluster IV took minimum days to plant germination, number of primary branches, day to 1^st flower initiation, day to 50% flowering, day to 1^st fruit set, day to 1^st fruit harvest, number of fruit per plant, and fruit yield per plant (kg), while cluster V was recorded maximum number of leaf and minimum seed index, due to the presence of variations among the genotypes.