J. Env. Bio-Sci., 2015: Vol.

29 (2):555-558
(555) ISSN 0973-6913 (Print), ISSN 0976-3384 (On Line)

GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN BOTTLE GOURD [LAGENARIA SICERARIA (MOL.) STANDL. ]

Padmakshi Thakur*1,Dhananjay Sharma1, Sasmita Priyadarsini Dash1 and S. K. Nair2
1
Department of Horticulture, College of Agricultural, IGKVV, Raipur -492012
2
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agricultural, IGKVV, Raipur -492012
[Correspondence author E-mail*1: padmakshithakur@gmail.com]

Received: 20-08-2015 Accepted: 12-10-2015

An experiment was carried out to analyze genetic diversity analysis for yield and its contributing traits in 22 bottle gourd
genotypes including two checks i.e. Pusa Naveen and NDBG 104 at Research cum Instructional Farm of Department of Horticulture,
Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.) during summer 2013. The cluster analysis grouped all 22 bottle gourd genotypes
into 5 major clusters based on D2 value. Extreme genetic divergence was estimated among clusters. Maximum number of
genotypes were grouped into cluster IV included six genotypes, whereas, cluster V and cluster II included five genotypes in each
cluster, which is followed by cluster I and III cluster had only three genotypes in each cluster. Average inter cluster distance was
found maximum (6.815) between cluster III and cluster I which would be fruitful for developing heterotic cross combination.
Cluster IV expressed highest mean value for fruit girth, number of fruits per plant and yield quintal per hectare. Cluster II showed
highest mean performance for fruit length. The characters like number of branches per plant and yield (q/ha) contributed
maximum to divergence. Hence, Bottle gourd crop improvement could be tried with the genotypes of divergent clusters for
better heterotic effects.

Bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.], locally known
as Lauki is an important home garden vegetable. It is a fast
growing winter seasonal climbing annual, native to Africa. It is
grown in both rainy and summer seasons and its fruits are
available in the market throughout the year. Bottle gourd is
the largest produced cucurbitaceous vegetables in the world
preferred in both urban and rural population. Bottle gourd
occupies 78.47 thousand hectare area with 870.15 thousand
metric tonnes production and having 11.05 mt/ha productivity
in the country. Whereas, in Chhattisgarh 11.63 thousand
hactares area with 209.17 thousand metric tonnes production
and having productivity of 17.98 mt/ha2. Bottle gourd is a rich
source of minerals and vitamins. In Chhattisgarh, no
comprehensive systematic research has been done on this
crop. The yield potentiality of this crop needs to be improved
through an effective breeding programme. Studies on the
variations of yield and yield contributing characters are of great
importance before planning a breeding program.
Genetic diversity analysis among elite germplasm is
prerequisite for choosing promising genetic diverse lines for
desirable traits and to reveal genetic distinctness among
genotypes1. Cluster analysis are prominent genetic diversity
measuring tools and exhibiting relative differences with each
other. In the present study, we classify the genotypic set based
on multivariate analysis for generating more heterotic cross
combinations and finally superior useful hybrids.
NAAS Rating (2016)-4.20
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study was carried out during summer season (2013) at
Research cum Instructional farm at Department of Horticulture,
IGKV, Raipur. The experiment comprised of twenty two
genotypes of bottle gourd along with two checks NDBG 104
and Pusa Naveen. The experiment was laid out in a
Randomized Block Design with three replications at 3.0 ×
0.5 m row to row and plant to plant spacing. All the
recommended cultural practices were adopted to raise a
healthy crop. Data were recorded on five randomly selected
plants with respect to characters viz., days to first male flower
appear, days to first female flower appear, node number at
which first male appear, node number at which first female
flower appear, days to 50% flowering, days to fruit set, number
of branches per plant, days to first fruit harvest, fruit length
(cm), average fruit weight (g), fruit girth (cm), number of fruits
per plant, fruit yield (q/ha) and crop duration. The data obtained
on above 14 characters was used for cluster analysis and
investigated to select the parents for hybridization using
Mahalanobis (1936) D 2 statistics5. The genotypes were
grouped into different clusters by Tocher’s method8. The
population was arranged in order of their relative distances
from each other. For including a particular population in the
clusters, a level of D2 was fixed by taking the maximum D2
values between any two populations in the first row of the

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 GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN BOTTLE GOURD
table where D2 values were arranged in increasing order of
magnitude.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among
bottle gourd genotypes for all characters suggesting
considerable genetic variability in the population. Using the
estimated D2 values as squares of generalized distance, 22
genotypes were grouped into 5 clusters (Table-1). Maximum
number of genotypes were grouped into cluster IV which
included six genotypes, whereas, cluster V and cluster II
included five genotypes in each cluster, which is followed by
cluster I and III cluster had only three genotypes in each cluster.
From the clustering pattern, it was found that the genotypes
from different region were independent of their genetic origin.
Hence, the genotypes studied were reliable enough for
hybridization and selection.
The average inter and intra cluster distances among the five
clusters are presented in Table-2. Maximum inter cluster
distance was observed between cluster III and I (6.815)
followed by cluster III and II (6.157), cluster V and III (5.677),
cluster IV and I (5.203). The minimum inter-cluster D2 values
were recorded in case of cluster V to cluster II (2.592) followed
by cluster II and I (3.304). The higher inter-cluster distance
indicated greater genetic divergence between the genotypes
of those clusters, while lower inter-cluster values between
the clusters suggested that the genotypes of the clusters
were not much genetically diverse from each other. The
maximum intra cluster distance was observed in cluster III
(2.719) closely followed by cluster I (2.507) indicating
maximum diversity within these clusters. Genotypes from
these clusters could be exploited in hybrid development
programmes due to their wide genetic distance. These
results are in general agreement with the findings of many
authors3-4,10.
In the contribution of each character to divergence presented
in Table-3 which showed number of branches per plant
contributes highest (38.52%) to divergence followed by yield
quintal per hectare (17.31%), fruit girth (17.31%) and number
of fruits per plant (8.65%) Whereas, average fruit weight
(6.49%), fruit length (6.06%), duration of crop (2.16%), node
number at which first male flower appears (1.73%) and fruit
girth (0.41%), days to fruit set (0.86%), node number at which
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Table-1. Composition of clusters.
Table-2. Intra (bold) and Inter cluster distance values in
bottle gourd.
first female flower appears (0.43%) and days to first fruit
harvest (0.43%) contribute lowest to divergence. This
contribution is an important consideration for the purpose of
further selection and choice of parents for hybridization. The
results of the present study was close agreement with findings
of earlier workers who reported that primary branches per
plant, fruit length and weight, number of fruits and yield per
plant contributed the most of the total genetic divergence and
by other workers in bottle gourd4, 6. Similar findings were also
reported by many authors in bitter gourd7,9.
The mean performance for different clusters of genotypes for
yield and its components are presented in Table-4. Cluster IV
expressed highest mean value for fruit girth, number of fruits
per plant and yield quintal per hectare. Cluster II showed highest
mean performance for fruit length. Cluster I showed highest
mean value for average fruit weight and expressed lowest mean
performance for node number at which first female flower
appears, days to first male flower appears, days to first female
flower appears, days to 50% flowering and duration of crop.
Cluster V showed lowest mean value for node number at which
first male flower appears, days to fruit set, days to first fruit
harvest and highest mean value for number of branches per
plant. The better genotypes can be selected for most of
characters on the basis of mean performance in the cluster.
 (557) THAKUR , SHARMA , DASH AND NAIR

Table-3. Contribution of each character to divergence

Table-4. Effect of different doses of clodinafop propargyl+metribuzin on density of grassy and non grassy weeds
at 30 DAA (Rabi 2011-12)

Table-5. Desirable genotypes based on cluster

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 GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN BOTTLE GOURD
The best genotypes which had chosen for different characters 2.
are presented in Table-5.
The present study revealed that in terms of inter cluster 3.
distance and characters with high D2 values, there is a scope
for varietal improvement through hybridization programme 4.
involving the selected genotypes under cluster IV. Thus, while
planning hybridization programme for the development of 5.
6.
heterotic hybrids and better transgressive segregants one
should select genotypes from cluster IV for fruit girth, number
7.
of fruits per plant and yield quintal per hectare. Similarly
genotypes from cluster II for fruit length whereas, genotypes
8.
from cluster V for node number at which first male flower
appears, days to fruit set, days to first fruit harvest and number 9.
of branches per plant and genotypes from cluster I for fruit 10.
weight, node number at which first female flower appears,
days to first male flower appears, days to first female flower
appears, days to 50% flowering and duration of crop.
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