Genetic variability, correlation studies and path coefficient analysis in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Indore (M.P.) during the kharif season in the year 2012-13. The present investigation was undertaken with 20 genotypes of bitter gourd for evaluating their performance for various horticultural characters. There was a great deal of significant correlation for all the characters among the genotypes. Correlation analysis revealed that Length of vine (0.640), number of branches per vine (0.577), number of male flowers per vine (0.594), number of female flowers per vine (0.529), number of fruits per vine (0.649), length of fruit (0.724), weight of fruit (0.961), number of seeds fruit (0.360), seed weight per fruit (0.380) had significant positive correlation for yield. Further, path coefficient analysis partitioned the correlation into direct and indirect effects. Yield was found to be directly correlated with crop duration (0.004), length of vine (0.030), number of seeds per fruit (0.045) and length of fruit (0.094) hence selection based on these characters would be more rewarding.