Morphological characterization of parental lines and cultivated genotypes of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria)

Abstract

Genetic diversity and relatedness were assessed among fifteen most common commercial bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.] genotypes of public sector institutes in India; the fifteen genotypes were grown in the field for two seasons under RCBD with three replications in New Delhi condition. Data were collected on morphological features of bottle gourd which include vine, leaf, flower, fruit and seed characteristics. A descriptor list with selected 32 morphological (qualitative and quantitative) characters were adopted from NBPGR guidelines and used for characterization. The data was used to calculate genetic similarity and to construct a dendrogram using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA). Data on quantitative characters was subjected to ANOVA using SAS and effects declared significant at 5% level. The procedure PRINCOMP was then used to perform a principle component (PC) analysis using fourteen quantitative variables and genotypes plotted on two dimensions using the first two principle components (PC1 and PC2). The results of quantitative characters of Pusa Santusti, Pusa Sandesh and Arka Bahar demonstrated highly significant variation between genotypes. Results of the principle component analyses for the traits indicated that the first five PCs explained a total of 80% of the total variation. The high morphological diversity observed among public sector genotypes emphasizes the need to expand the genetic base of the cultivated bottle gourd in India.