Morphological diversity analysis among watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb) Mansf.) genotypes.

A study was carried out during summer season of 2009 and 2010 to determine variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation, path analysis and genetic divergence in watermelon for eleven quantitative characters. The TSS (89.5%) had maximum heritability followed by rind thickness (81.7%), days to first fruit harvest (81.2%), number of primary branches per plant (80.7%), fruit yield per plant (79.7%), node at which first female flower appeared (79.3%) and main vine length (79.0%) which provides ample scope for varietal improvement through selection. Significant positive correlation was found between fruit yield per plant and node at which first female flower appeared (0.440), number of primary branches per plant (0.342), fruit weight (0.339) and number of fruits per plant (0.077). The maximum direct effect on fruit yield per plant was exerted by fruit weight had maximum positive direct effect (1.023) at phenotypic level followed by number of fruits per plant (0.862). Therefore, selection should be practices on these characters these characters in breeding programme of watermelon.