Estimation of genetic parameters in ash gourd

Abstract

Nine elite lines of ash gourd were crossed in full diallel mating system to generate 72 F1 hybrids. These F1 hybrids and nine parental lines were evaluated for thirteen growth and yield related traits and fourteen quality traits. A wide range of variability along with moderate phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation was observed for traits such as days to fruit maturity, number of seeds per fruit, seed weight per fruit, iron and zinc content. High estimates of broad sense heritability were recorded for all traits except rind thickness, TSS and crude fibre with heritability ranging from 44.22% for rind thickness to 99.12% for calcium. High heritability for these traits indicated less influence of environment in their expression. Yield per vine, number of fruits per vine, seed weight per fruit, number of seeds per fruit, vitamin C, iron and copper content showed greater estimates of genetic advance as percentage of mean coupled with high amount of heritability indicating that these traits are governed by additive genes and continued selection would be helpful in modifying the mean performance of the population.