Md.
Marufur Rahman, Takia Tanzina Akhter Bhuiyan, Kamrunnahar, Masuma
Rahman, Naheed Zeba*
*Corresponding
author: naheed0359@yahoo.com
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted with the objective of estimating
nature and magnitude of genetic variations existing in fifteen bitter
gourd genotypes. The experiments were laid out in randomized complete
block design with three replications. Ten quantitative traits were
subjected to analyze variability, heritability and genetic advance.
Genotypes differed significantly at p < 0.01 for all the traits
studied, which implies that the genotypes contain adequate genetic
variability. For all traits the genotypic coefficient of variation
(GCV) is slightly less than the phenotypic coefficient of variation
(PCV) which revealed that the observable variation was mostly genetic
but very little environmental impact was present in the expression of
the traits. The maximum coefficient of variation were found for fruit
length, fruit weight, fruit yield per plant and branch per vine at
genotypic and phenotypic level, indicating the higher magnitude of
variability for these traits and consequently more scope for their
improvement through selection. Heritability in broad sense ranged
from 77.47% in vine length to 99.56% in days to first flower female.
The range of genetic advance as percent of mean was 13.39% in days to
first flower male to 90.26% in fruit weight. High heritability
estimates were obtained for all the characters studied except for
branches per vine suggesting that almost all of the traits under
study are primarily under genetic control. High heritability coupled
with high genetic advance was found for fruit length, fruit breadth,
fruit weight and number of fruit per plant indicated that additive
genes controlling these traits. The current study indicated that
these four traits are important yield related traits and could be
used for phenotypic selection in bitter gourd breeding programs.
Keywords:
Bitter gourd; genetic variability; heritability; genetic advance.
