Genetic characterisation of ash gourd (Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Moench) germplasm for yield and quality traits through principal component analysis

Abstract

The present study was carried out at the College Orchard, Department of Vegetable Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 2013-2014. The results revealed that more than 75% of the total variability present among all the genotypes of ash gourd is explained by the first thirteen principal components (PC). But out of eighteen, the first six component axes in the principal component analysis had Eigen values up to 1.0 and above, presenting cumulative variance of 75.38%. The first PC explained characters viz., vine length (VL), intermodal length (INL), node at first female flower appearance (NFFA), average fruit weight (AFW), polar diameter (PD), equatorial diameter (ED) and number of seeds per fruits (NSF) which are positively related with yield while total soluble soilds (TSS) observed to have negative effect on yield and it was cleared from the values of PC1. Characters like average fruit weight (AFW) and number of fruits per vine (NFPV) were observed in PC2 whereas traits like days to first female flower appearance (DFFA), hundred-seed weight (HSW) and protein content (PRO); sex ratio (SR) and flesh thickness (FlT); number of primary branches (NPBr) and carbohydrate content (CHO); crude fibre content (CRUDE) were explained by PC3, PC4, PC5 and PC6 respectively. Therefore, the above-mentioned variables might be taken into consideration for effective selection of parents during hybridization program for broadening the genetic base in the population as well as to develop elite lines.