Journal of FARM SCIENCES, Vol 18, No 3 (2005)

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Genetic Divergence in Bittergourd

M.S. Kutty, P.R. Dharmatti

Abstract


Genetic divergence among forty genotypes of Bittergourd (Momordica charantia L.) of different ecogeographic origin was assessed using Mahalanobis D2 statistics. The total genotypes were grouped into 10 clusters on similarities of D2 values. Most of the genotypes were grouped in cluster I (16), II (11), and IV (4), respectively. The genotypes falling in cluster II had the maximum divergence, followed by the cluster IV and I. The maximum intercluster distance was between cluster VI and IX followed by cluster VII and IX. The characters like number of leaves at 50% flowering and  productive length of vine contributed maximum to divergence. Hence, Bittergourd crop improvement could be tried with the genotypes of divergent clusters for better heterotic effects

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