Variability and Genetic Diversity of Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (mol.) Stand.] in Bangladesh

The presented study was conducted at the experimental field of Olericulture Division, Horticulture Research Center, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh during the year 2018-19 to assess the extent of genetic diversity among 25 bottle gourd germplasms. Data on: days to first harvest, fruit number per plant, average fruit weight, fruit yield (kg/plant), fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit yield (t/ha), fruit shape and fruit color were recorded.  Plot means for quantitative characters were used for the statistical analysis, while genetic diversity, principal component analysis (PCA), principal Coordinate analysis (PCO), cluster analysis, cluster means and two-dimensional scattered plotting diagram were studied. The germplasms were constellated into five distinct groups with the range of 3 germplasms in the cluster III to 6 germplasms in the clusters II and IV. The inter-cluster distance in all cases was larger than is the intra-cluster distance. The highest intra-cluster value (2.65) was found in the cluster IV. Maximal inter-cluster distance (12.24) was observed between germplasm of cluster I and V, followed by the clusters I and III (12.05) and minimal was found between germplasms of cluster I and IV (3.46). In case of the cluster means values and yield contributing performance cluster I, cluster IV and cluster III performed well. Considering the group distance and inter-genotypic crosses between the clusters and cluster means, inbreeds belong to clusters: I, IV and III, to that will be given higher priority for crossing in future bottle gourd hybridization program.