Studies on Inter-traits Relationship and Path Co-efficient for Fruit Yield and its Related Traits in Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch ex. Poir)

Abstract

In the summer of 2019, a field experiment was carried out at the Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology of Main Experiment Station in Kumarganj, Ayodhya (U.P), India. The research material consisted of twenty-eight genotypes, including three standard checks viz., Azad Kaddu, Arka Chandan, and Pusa Vikash, conducted in a Completely Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three independent replications. The germplasm of pumpkin was collected from different sources to study path co-efficient analysis of different characters on fruit yield per plant at the phenotypic and genotypic levels for different quantitative traits. The path co-efficient analysis revealed that the highly positive direct contribution towards fruit yield came from average fruit weight (0.781) followed by the number of fruit per plant (0.750) but also as well as fruit equatorial circumference (0.021) and flesh thickness (0.048) was exerted a positive direct effect on fruit yield per plant and these traits might be considered as a high yield symbols of pumpkin and might be used as selection criteria in the breeding program to improve the yield in pumpkin.