Rekha Chittapur, Tembhurne B.V., Jagadeesha R.C., Kisan Babu and Renuka Hirekurubar
Abstract
The present investigation was carried out in College of Horticulture, Bagalkot, Haveli farm during Kharif 2020 to determine the extent of diversity for 18 quantitative traits in 150 cucumber collections belonging to two different species Cucumis melo and Cucumis sativus. The results revealed the formation of eight principal components of which first six components axes had Eigen values more than 1.0, representing a cumulative variability of 70.05 percent. In Kharif 2020, 18 quantitative traits partitioned into 6 components in which maximum variance of 18.26 percent of the total variation by PC 1. Remaining components explained 15.76 percent, 11.07 percent, 10.35 percent, 7.64 percent, and 6.95 percent respectively of total variability. Components with higher Eigen value PC 1 (3.28) and PC 2 (2.83) were considered for studying the distribution of 18 quantitative traits. Loading of different variables based on the first two principal components indicated that the characters which contributed maximum in PC1 were vine length, node number of first female flower, number of flowers male, number of flowers female, number of nodes per vine, internode length, vine length at harvest stage, individual fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, seed cavity and fruit yield per plant. Among these traits the major contribution was by individual fruit weight followed by fruit yield per plant. In PC2 contribution was by the characters such as, vine length, days to fifty percent flowering, days to first female flower appearance, days to first fruit set, number of nodes per vine, individual fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, seed cavity and fruit yield per plant. Major contribution was by fruit diameter followed by seed cavity. Therefore, while conducting selection or choosing parents for hybridization, breeders have to give special emphasis on these traits.