Genetic diversity analysis in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) for yield and its attributing characters

Twenty four bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) genotypes were studied in a field experiment conducted at experimental field of College of Horticulture, Mudigere, during Summer 2017-18. The objective of the study was to estimate the genetic diversity among the genotypes for yield and its attributing characters. There was a significant difference among the genotypes for all the characters studied. Twenty four genotypes were grouped into five clusters, cluster I was the largest cluster having twenty genotypes and remaining clusters had only one genotype each. Fruit weight (31.16%) contributed maximum to the total genetic diversity among twenty four bitter gourd genotypes followed by flesh thickness (19.93%), node at which first female flower appear (11.59%). Intra cluster D² values ranged from 0.00 to 191.79. Among the five clusters, cluster I with twenty genotypes showed maximum intra cluster distance (D²= 191.79). The clusters II, III, IV and V had no intra-cluster distance (D²= 0.00) as they possessed single genotype in each cluster.