Genetic Variability Studies in F2 Populations of Ridge Gourd [Luffa acutangula L. (Roxb.)] for Growth, Yield and Quality Traits

An experiment was conducted to study, genetic variability in ridge gourd during rabi 2024 at College of Horticulture, Bagalkot. The observations were recorded on various growth, yield and quality contributing characters of population-I (ArkaPrasan x Sirsi Local-2) and population-II (Jaipur Long x KLR-5). The analysis of variance indicated the prevalence of sufficient genetic variation among the genotypes from all the characters studied. The high phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) were observed for node at first male flower appears, node at first female appears, TSS and crude fibre in population-I. Whereas, the traits like vine length, number of primary branches per vine, average fruit weight, fruit yield per vine and crude fibre in population-II. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance were observed for node at first male flower appears, node at first female flower appears, fruit length, fruit diameter, average fruit weight, fruit yield per vine, number of fruits per vine, number of seeds per fruit, fruit tenderness, TSS, crude fibre and vitamin C in the both F2 populations indicating these characters are governed by additive gene action. Hence, direct selection may be followed for the improvement of ridge gourd for these characters.