Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance studies in spine gourd (Momordica dioica Roxb.) genotypes

Introduction

Spine gourd (Momordica dioica Roxb.) is nutritionally important dioceious, perennial and under exploited vegetable crop. The systemic research work so as to understand the genetic architecture and endeavor in crop improvement programme of spine gourd is looking. Estimation of genetic parameters is needed to be studied for understanding the genetic make up for yield and yield contributing components. Evaluation of germplasm is useful in selection of basic collection and also its future utilization in breeding programmes. The estimation of an amount of heritability reveals the extent to which the crop improvement is possible through selection and relative degree to which a character is heredited from parents to offsprings. For selection of superior germplasms heritability estimates along with genetic advance are important. The achievement of any breeding programme depends upon the amount of genetic variability for utilization, genetic coefficient of variation, heritability estimates, genetic advance among different traits with the fruit yield. To step improve the yield potential of the crop and make it more acceptable among the population.

Materials and Methods

Experimental site

The field experiment was set up at Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani. The experimental site was geographically located at latitude: 19°16′0″N and longitude: 76°47′0″E with at an altitude of about 408m from mean sea level. Parbhani district comes under semi-arid climate, with a dry and hot summer, humid monsoon and cold winter.

Experimental material

Eighteen promising spine gourd genotypes were obtained from various locations of Maharashtra and evaluated in kharif season of 2022-23. The source of all the germplasms which were utilized in the study are given in Table 1.

Experimental details and observations recorded

The experiment was set up in randomized block design replicated thrice with plant spacing of 1 m x 0.9 m. To produce a healthy crop, all cultural operations and plant protection techniques were uniformly applied to each treatment. The data were collected on five randomly selected plants from each treatment on seventeen traits viz, plant height (cm), no. of primary branches plant -1 , internodal length, days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, days to first harvest, days to last harvest, fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), fruit pedicel length (cm), no. of fruits plant -1 , ascorbic acid content (mg/100 gm), total soluble solids (TSS), average fruit weight (g), fruit yield plant -1 (g), fruit yield plot -1 (kg), fruit yield ha -1 (q).

Statistical analysis

Standard statistical procedures were used for the estimation of genetic variability, GCV and PCV, heritability (Burton and Devane, 1953) [2] and genetic advance (Allard, 1960) [1] , and the data was classified as suggested by PCV and GCV (Cherian, 2000) [3] , heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean (Warshamana, 2005) [12]

Results

Wide range of variation observed for all characters. Components of variation estimated for all the traits indicated wide range of variability in mean plant height (358.14-177.00 cm), no. of primary branches plant [10] in spine gourd, Som et al. (2020) [9] in sponge gourd and Patil et al. (2022) [7] in spine gourd. The phenotypic variance was found more than the genotypic variance for all traits studied. The genotypic variance obtained for various yield, yield attributing traits ranged from 22092.07 to 0.09 and phenotypic variance obtained for various yield, yield attributing traits ranged from 24662.81 to 0.10. The highest GCV was observed in fruit yield ha - 1 (38.76) followed by fruit yield plant -1 (37.16), fruit yield plot -1 (36.36), no. of fruits plant -1 (28.13) and no. of primary branches plant [5] in pointed gourd, Sukwariya et al. (2019) [10] in spine gourd, Patil et al. (2022) [7] in spine gourd and Sagar et al. (2024) [8] in bitter gourd. The genotypes had recorded high heritability value for total soluble solids (93.36), followed by ascorbic acid content (92.31), plant height (89.18), no. of primary branches plant [4] in snake gourd, Jena et al. (2017) [5] in pointed gourd, Sukwariya et al. (2019) [10] in spine gourd, Patil et al. (2022) [7] in spine gourd and Sagar et al. (2024) [8] in bitter gourd.

Discussion

For selecting better genotype for character improvement and for selecting the most promising parent for crop improvement programme genetic variability is most important for any crop. The achievement of any breeding programme relies upon the quantum of genetic variability exists in available germplasms. The results for all the seventeen characters of spine gourd with respect to mean, overall range, genotypic coefficient of variance (GCV), phenotypic coefficient of variance (PCV), heritability and genetic advance were represented in Table 2 and Fig. 1.

Studies on genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation indicated the level of variability for different traits in spine gourd. PCV and GCV for all the traits under experimentation indicated that environmental factors were affecting the expression of these traits. The traits which expressed high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation are of great economic value and there is offering more scope for improvement of these traits through selection procedures and was in agreement with the findings of Devi and Mariappan (2013) [4] in snake gourd, Jena et al.

(2017) [5] in pointed gourd, Sukwariya et al. (2019) [10] in spine gourd, Patil et al. (2022) [7] in spine gourd and Mane et al 2024. They reported low or moderate heritability and genetic advance as percent mean adds less scope for selection, as they indicate the role of non-additive genetic effects. The characters having high heritability along with high genetic advance as percent mean is depicts greater role of additive genetic effect and there is offering more scope for future improvement through selection and was in accordance with the findings of Venkatraman et al. (2024) [11] in bottle gourd.

Conclusion

The traits which reveal high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variations are of economic value and provide scope for improvement of these traits through selection process. High values of heritability and GA as percent of mean also indicated the additive gene effect regulating the inheritance of such characters therefore, these characters offer plenty of options for selection.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgmentThe authors of the research article are very thankful to the Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agriculture University, Parbhani, Maharashtra, India.

References

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