Evaluation of yield and Biochemical Traits of Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl] in Different Environment
Subhash Verma
School of Agriculture, Eklavya University, Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, India.
R.B. Verma *
Department of Horticulture (Vegetable Science) BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Pin Code-813210, India.
Sapan Kumar
Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, (Bihar), India.
Sunny
Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, (Bihar), India.
Amrita Kumari
Department of Horticulture (Vegetable Science), Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur (Bihar), India.
Riya Jakhwal
Department of Agriculture, Shri Ram College, Muzaffarnagar, India.
Abhishek Tiwari
Department of Agricultural Sciences, School of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering, IFTM University, Moradabad 244102, India.
Mrinal Kumar
Department of Horticulture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.)] is cultivated year-round in the northern plains of India during the summer and rainy seasons, ensuring a continuous supply of fresh fruits in the market. Therefore, better germplasm is required for cultivation across different environments.” Yet, the Indian productivity of bottle gourd is still below its potential, due to poor-yielding and nutritionally inferior cultivars that are not uniformly good across variable environments. The current study was conducted with the aim of assessing the mean performance of bottle gourd genotypes and hybrids for yield and biochemical characters under three variable environments, with the aim of selecting suitable and stable genotypes that could be effectively used in future crop improvement programmes through breeding. The research was carried out at the Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture (Vegetable and Floriculture), Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur (Bihar) in the year 2022. Six genetically dissimilar parental genotypes were chosen to be hybridized. The total yield of fruits per plot in F1 hybrids varied with their mean values of 56.43, 51.70, 46.12 and 51.42 in E1, E2, E3 and pooled, respectively. Taking the yield and quality characters into account simultaneously, PN × BG-65, NJ × PN, NJ × BG-65, RBG × BG-23, and BG-21-2 × PN were the best F₁ hybrids since they performed better than the check variety (Kashi Ganga) in all environments. These hybrids have high potential to be grown in the commercial sector and used in bottle gourd breeding schemes.
Keywords: [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl], performance, biochemical traits, yield, hybrids