Genetic evaluation of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) strains for different growth yield, quality and seed parameters

Thirteen strains of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) were evaluated at Horticultural Research Centre, Department of Horticulture, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar (Garhwal), Uttarakhand (India) to study the variability, heritability and genetic advance for growth, yield, quality and seed parameters. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences for almost all the characters. The perusal of present investigation indicated that the values of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were higher than the genotypic coefficients of variation (GCV) for all characters studied. The genotypic coefficients of variation and phenotypic coefficients of variation were moderate to low for all the characters except number of nodes bearing first male flower (33.02%, 33.66%). The high magnitude of heritability high estimated genetic advance over mean were found highest for length of fruit (100%, 58.40%), weight of fruit (99%, 39.92%), length of vine (98%, 36.12%), number of seeds per fruit (98%,50.16%), number of nodes per vine (97%, 53.57%), number of fruits per vine (97%, 44.33%), number of nodes bearing first male flower (96%, 66.74%), TSS (96%, 44.25%), calcium content (95%, 21.75%), number of nodes bearing first female flower (94%, 58.36%), duration of harvesting (93%, 36.04%), total fruit yield per vine (92%,35.93%) and diameter of fruit (92%, 35.80%) thus indicating that these characters had additive gene effect and therefore, they are more reliable for effective selection.