Studies on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for growth, yield and its component traits in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Abstract

The present investigation conducted at Main Experiment Station, Department of Vegetable Science, Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Narendra Nagar (Kumarganj) Ayodhya, involving 28 diverse genotypes of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice to estimate the genetic variability, heritability (bs) and genetic advance in present of mean for planning the leading strategy in the available germplasm. The observations were recorded on different characters like- Days to first male (staminate) flower anthesis, Days to first female (pistillate) flower anthesis, Node number to first staminate flower appearance, Node number to first pistillate flower appearance, Number of primary branches per plant, Vine length (m), Days to first fruit harvest, Fruit length (cm), Fruit diameter (cm), Number of fruit per plant, Average fruit weight (g) and Marketable fruit yield per plant (kg). The analyses of variance revealed that mean sum of squares due to genotypes were highly significant for all the traits indicating ample variation among the genotypes. The estimates of heritability in board sense and genetic advance as a percentage of mean were studied in the study. The range of heritability in board sense varied from 58.20% to 99.0%. Maximum estimates of heritability was recorded for length of fruit (99.00%). Based on mean performance of genotype NDCC-23 followed by Pusa Uday (1.700 kg), NDCC-4 (1.660 kg), NDCC-5 (1.590 kg), and NDCC-19 (1.560 kg) were found as five most promising t yield per plant.Hence due emphasis should be given to these characters during selection for developing high yielding genotypes in cucumber.