Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Vimlesh Kumar, DP Mishra, GC Yadav, DK Singh and Akanksha Tiwari

Abstract:
The present study was conducted with the aim to assess the diversity among the lines of pumpkin and their offspring with the help of Mahalanobis D² analysis. The trials were conducted during three seasons and pooled analysis of data was carried out. The observations were recorded for fourteen growth and yield traits. The present investigation was revealed that the clustering pattern for the twenty one genotypes was grouped into five different non-overlapping cluster in pooled analysis. The minimum intra cluster distance (0.00) was found for all the clusters except in cluster I and III and maximum was found in cluster III followed by cluster I in pooled analysis. The minimum inter-cluster distance was found between cluster II and maximum inter cluster distance was calculated between cluster III and IV. Cluster II showed maximum mean value for four characters viz., days to first male flower anthesis, days to first female flower anthesis, node number to first male flower appear, days to first fruit harvest and number of primary branches per plant. In pooled analysis, highest per cent contribution towards clustering of genotypes was showed by average fruit weight. The study further concluded that the much diversity was observed among the genotypes (lines and off-springs) for growth and yield traits.