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Evaluation of phenotypic and genotypic variation of local pumpkin germplasm for improved breeding purposes

Corresponding Author : Romel Ahmed (romel-fes@sust.edu)

Authors : Iba Khatun , Rahela Khatun , M. Shalim Uddin , M. Shamsul Haque Prodhan , Romel Ahmed

Keywords : Pumpkin, germplasm, phenotype, genotype, variation

Abstract :

Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), a popular vegetable in Bangladesh, has a wonderful source of minerals, fibers, vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients. Attempts were taken in the present work to select the best parents of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) among the 20 local germplasms for improvement breeding. The collected germplasms were evaluated for phenotypic and genotypic variations based on flowering days, vine length, fruits length and weight, yield and pericarp length that were found to differ significantly (p< 0.01). Time required to flowering varied from 57 to 83 days, and the vine length ranged from 11 to 23 ft. Fruit per plant varied from 1 to 4, weight varied from 0.90 to 4.35 kg. The extent of genotypic variance for flowering, vine length, fruits length, fruits weight and pericarp length were higher than the environmental variance. The detected significant differences among the germplasms for the traits suggest the presence of an intrinsic genetic variability that could potentially be used for the effective and successful breeding to improve the desirable traits in the future.

Published on June 28th, 2021 in Volume 31, Issue 1, Agriculture and Mineral Science