Studies on variability, heritability and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing characters in Ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis (Voigt.)

Abstract

In order to determine the magnitude of variability, 18 genotypes of ivy gourd were evaluated at CHES, Bhubaneswar. Through analysis of variance, a high significant difference was found for almost all thirteen characters indicating a greater opportunity of exploit variability. Genotypic and phenotypic variances were highest for no. of fruit yield /plant and stem girth followed by leaf area and days of flowering. Phenotypic co- efficient of variation (PCV) and Genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV) were maximum in case of no. of primary branches/plant and minimum for length of internode, respectively. Heritability was found very high for all characters except length of internode and fruit girth. The maximum genetic advance (% of mean) was observed in case of no. of fruit/ plants followed by leaf area and days of flowering. Genotypic coefficient of variation, heritability and predicted genetic gain were high for the characters no. of primary branches/plant, vine length and no. of fruit/ plants suggesting that additive gene action is responsible for expression of these characters.