Correlation and Path Coefficient Analysis in Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) Genotypes

Correlation of various characters with yield is useful and provides criteria for direct selection of component characters. The other genetic parameter commonly used is the path analysis as given by Dewey and Lu, 1959. It critically breaks up different direct and indirect effects which finally add upto the correlation coefficient. The present investigation was undertaken at the Experimental field of Urban Technological Park Habbak, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir during kharif-2022. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications and plant spacing of 2×1 m for thirty genotypes in order to study the association among yield and yield components, their direct and indirect influence on total marketable fruit yield. Observations were recorded on various growth and yield traits and seed traits. Positive and significant correlation was noted for fruit yield ha-1 with number of male flowers plant-1, number of female flowers plant-1, vine length (m), number of fruits, average fruit weight (g), leaf area (cm2), number of seeds fruit-1, seed weight fruit-1 and fruit yield plant-1 both at genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path coefficient analysis disclosed that traits such as number of fruits per plant, vine length (m), number of female flowers, average fruit weight(g) and number of seeds per fruit should be given due importance by selection for breeding of new cultivars as they exhibited the highest direct effects on the fruit yield ha-1.