Final SPH -JHS Coverpage 16-2 Jan 2021 single C O N T E N T S JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURAL SCIENCES Volume 16 Issue 2 June 2021 In this Issue i-ii Review Phytoremediation of indoor air pollutants: Harnessing the potential of 131-143 plants beyond aesthetics Shalini Jhanji and U.K.Dhatt Research Articles Response of fruit yield and quality to foliar application of micro-nutrients in 144-151 lemon [Citrus limon (L.) Burm.] cv. Assam lemon Sheikh K.H.A., Singh B., Haokip S.W., Shankar K., Debbarma R. Studies on high density planting and nutrient requirement of banana in 152-163 different states of India Debnath Sanjit Bauri F.K., Swain S., Patel A.N., Patel A.R., Shaikh N.B., Bhalerao V.P., Baruah K., Manju P.R., Suma A., Menon R., Gutam S. and P. Patil Mineral nutrient composition in leaf and root tissues of fifteen polyembryonic 164-176 mango genotypes grown under varying levels of salinity Nimbolkar P.K., Kurian R.M., Varalakshmi L.R., Upreti K.K., Laxman R.H. and D. Kalaivanan Optimization of GA3 concentration for improved bunch and berry quality in 177-184 grape cv. Crimson Seedless (Vitis vinifera L) Satisha J., Kumar Sampath P. and Upreti K.K. RGAP molecular marker for resistance against yellow mosaic disease in 185-192 ridge gourd [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.] Kaur M., Varalakshmi B., Kumar M., Lakshmana Reddy D.C., Mahesha B. and Pitchaimuthu M. Genetic divergence study in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) 193-198 Nithinkumar K.R., Kumar J.S.A., Varalakshmi B, Mushrif S.K., Ramachandra R.K. , Prashanth S.J. Combining ability studies to develop superior hybrids in bell pepper 199-205 (Capsicum annuum var. grossum L.) Varsha V., Smaranika Mishra, Lingaiah H.B., Venugopalan R., Rao K.V. Kattegoudar J. and Madhavi Reddy K. SSR marker development in Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench 206-214 using transcriptome sequencing and genetic diversity studies Gayathri M., Pitchaimuthu M. and K.V. Ravishankar Generation mean analysis of important yield traits in Bitter gourd 215-221 (Momordica charantia) Swamini Bhoi, Varalakshmi B., Rao E.S., Pitchaimuthu M. and Hima Bindu K. Influence of phenophase based irrigation and fertigation schedule on vegetative 222-233 performance of chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflora Tzelev.) var. Marigold Vijayakumar S., Sujatha A. Nair, Nair A.K., Laxman R.H. and Kalaivanan D. Performance evaluation of double type tuberose IIHR-4 (IC-0633777) for 234-240 flower yield, quality and biotic stress response Bharathi T.U., Meenakshi Srinivas, Umamaheswari R. and Sonavane, P. Anti-fungal activity of Trichoderma atroviride against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. 241-250 Lycopersici causing wilt disease of tomato Yogalakshmi S., Thiruvudainambi S., Kalpana K., Thamizh Vendan R. and Oviya R. Seed transmission of bean common mosaic virus-blackeye cowpea mosaic strain 251-260 (BCMV-BlCM) threaten cowpea seed health in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo regions of Ghana Adams F.K., Kumar P.L., Kwoseh C., Ogunsanya P., Akromah R. and Tetteh R. Effect of container size and types on the root phenotypic characters of Capsicum 261-270 Raviteja M.S.V., Laxman R.H., Rashmi K., Kannan S., Namratha M.R. and Madhavi Reddy K. Physio-morphological and mechanical properties of chillies for 271-279 mechanical harvesting Yella Swami C., Senthil Kumaran G., Naik R.K., Reddy B.S. and Rathina Kumari A.C. Assessment of soil and water quality status of rose growing areas of 280-286 Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in India Varalakshmi LR., Tejaswini P., Rajendiran S. and K.K. Upreti Qualitative and organoleptic evaluation of immature cashew kernels under storage 287-291 Sharon Jacob and Sobhana A. Physical quality of coffee bean (Coffea arabica L.) as affected by harvesting and 292-300 drying methods Chala T., Lamessa K. and Jalata Z Vegetative vigour, yield and field tolerance to leaf rust in four F1 hybrids of 301-308 coffee (Coffea arabica L.) in India Divya K. Das, Shivanna M.B. and Prakash N.S. Limonene extraction from the zest of Citrus sinensis, Citrus limon, Vitis vinifera 309-314 and evaluation of its antimicrobial activity Wani A.K., Singh R., Mir T.G. and Akhtar N. Event Report 315-318 National Horticultural Fair 2021 - A Success Story Dhananjaya M.V., Upreti K.K. and Dinesh M.R. Subject index 319-321 Author index 322-323 193 J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 193-198, 2021 This is an open access article d istributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer cial-ShareAl ike 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, d istribution, and reproduction in any med ium, provide d the original author and source are credited. Genetic divergence study in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) Nithinkumar K.R.1, Kumar J.S.A.,2, Varalakshmi B., Sadanand K.3 , Mushrif S.K.4, Ramachandra R.K. 5, and Prashanth S.J. 6 1Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Kolar; 2Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Mysuru; 3Division of Vegetable Crops, IIHR, Bengaluru; 4Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, Kolar; 5Department of BCI, College of Horticulture, Mysuru; 6Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Bengaluru *Corresponding author Email : nithinkumarveg@gmail.com ABSTRACT The genetic divergence of forty bitter gourd genotypes was studied for sixteen different parameters by adopting Mahalanobis D2 statistics using Tocher’smethod. The genotypes were grouped into six clusters irrespective of geographic divergence, indicating no parallelism between geographic and genetic diversity. A maximum of 32 genotypes entered in cluster I, followed by 4 genotypes in cluster II. The cluster III, IV, V and VI had single genotypes each. Maximum inter cluster distance observed between cluster II and cluster IV followed by cluster IV and cluster V and cluster II and V. This indicates, the genotypes belonging to cluster II (GYB-3-1- 2, Bit-3-1-2-1, Bit-3-1-1-1, ArkaHarit), cluster IV (IC-68238) and cluster V (Bit-18-1-1) are more diverse and hence, hybridization between genotypes of respective cluster may improve the yield and quality of bitter gourd. Keywords: Bitter gourd, clusters, D2 analysis and genetic divergence Original Research Paper INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS The present investigation was carried out at the Depa r tment of Vegeta ble Science, College of Hor ticultur e, Yela chenaha lli, Mysur u district, Ka r na ta ka dur ing 2017-18. T he exper imenta l materials comprised of 40 indigenous genotypes of bitter gourd including some of the commercially released varieties from different institutes of India as listed in Table 1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications. The spacing used in this experiment was 120×90 cm. The recommended NPK fertilizer doses and cultural practices along with plant protection measures were followed to raise a commercial crop (Choudhary et al., 2003). Five randomly chosen plants in each replication of each entry were labelled and used for recording the observations. The mean of five plants was taken for analysis. Observations were recorded for 16 parameters like Vine length (m), Number of branches per vine, Duration of crop (days), Node at which first female flower appears, Days to first female flower opening, Days to 50 per cent flowering, Days to first fruit picking, Fruit length (cm), Fruit diameter (cm), Average fruit weight (g), Number of fruits per vine, Fruit yield per vine (kg), Fruit yield per hectare (t), Number of seeds per fruit, Flesh thickness (mm) Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is considered as a valuable vegetable crop for its nutritional and medicinal properties, but it is neglected in terms of genetic and molecular breeding. Even though bitter gourd has a relatively broad phenotypic species variation due to diverse morphological traits, the studies on multi variate analysis is limited (Singh et al., 2013). Genetic divergence has been considered as an important factor in discriminating the genetically diver se pa r ents for efficient a nd successful hybridization programme in order to get potential tr ansgr essive segrega nts a nd also pr ovide new recombination of genes in the gene pool. D2 statistics (Mahalanobis, 1936) is highly acceptable as it provides a measure of magnitude for divergence between two genotypes under comparison. Grouping of genotypes based on D2 analysis will be useful in choosing suitable parental lines for hybridization. Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify suitable parents out of 40 bitter gourd genotypes to initiate a breeding programme by identifying the clusters that are diverse and contain genotypes with good performance. 194 Nithinkumar et al J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 193-198, 2021 and Ascorbic acid (mg/100g). The data were subjected to multivariate analysis of genetic divergence using Mahalanobis D2 statistic. Grouping of entries was done by Tocher’s method (Rao, 1952). Table 1. List of genotypes and their sources of collection Sl. Genotypes Source Sl. Genotypes Source No. No. 1 Preethi KAU, Vellanikkara 21 Bit-10-1-1 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 2 Yellapur Local-2 Yellapur, Karnataka 22 West Bengal West Bengal Local-2 3 Bit-25-2-1 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 23 Kotla Local-1 Rajastan 4 Meghnaa-2 Masood seeds, Bangladesh 24 Bit-10-1-2 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 5 Jhalawar Local-3 Jalawar, Rajastan 25 Bit-5-1-4-1 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 6 CO-1 TNAU, Coimbatore 26 Contai Bolder Barasat Agri Hybrid seeds, West Bengal 7 Bit-22-1-1-3 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 27 Bit-1-2-2-4 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 8 Bit-9-2-4-1 Maharashtra 28 Bit-18-1-1 Varanasi, Uttar pradesh 9 GYB-3-1-2 Tamil Nadu 29 Jhalawar Local-1 Jalawar, Rajastan 10 Bit-1-2-3 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 30 Bit-3-1-1-1 Tamil Nadu 11 Yellapur Local-1 Yellapur, Karnataka 31 GYB-5-1-5-2 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 12 Bit-37-2-1 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 32 Bit-22-1-1-1 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 13 DEB-505 Debgiri Pvt Ltd. Kolkatta 33 Bit-9-2-1-2 Maharashtra 14 Bit-3-1-2-1 Tamil Nadu 34 GYL-2 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 15 Bit-9-3-2-3 Maharashtra 35 GYB-2-2 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 16 Bit-5-1-2-1 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 36 Katahi Hyderabad 17 West Bengal West Bengal 37 Bit-35-1-1 Odisha Local-1 18 Jhalawar Local-2 Jalawar, Rajastan 38 Bit-31-2-2 COH, Kolar, Karnataka 19 Super Green Super Seeds, Odissa 39 ArkaHarit IIHR, Bengaluru 20 IC-68238 NBPGR, New Delhi 40 Bit-9-1-4-1 Maharashtra RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results from the analysis of variance for 16 characters indicated significantly high differences among 40 genotypes of bitter gourd under study. These 40 genotypes were grouped into six clusters. The distribution of genotypes into 6 clusters were presented in Table 2. Cluster I is the largest cluster having 32 genotypes followed by cluster II with four genotypes (GYB-3-1-2, Bit-3-1-2-1, Bit-3-1-1-1and ArkaHarit). Cluster III (Yellapur Local-2), cluster IV (IC-68238), cluster V (Bit-18-1-1) and cluster VI (Jhalawar Local- 2) had one genotype each. The genotypes collected from different geographical regions were present in same clusters indicating that there was no association between geographical distribution and genetic diversity as reported earlier by Bhagwat et al. (2013) in bitter gourd. The intra and inter-cluster D2 and D values among 6 clusters are furnished in the Table 3. and illustrated in Figure 1. Intra-cluster average D2 values ranged from 0 to 104.02. Among the clusters, cluster II had the maximum intra-cluster distance (104.02) followed by cluster I (96.08). The clusters like III, IV, V and cluster VI had no inter cluster distance (zero) as they were represented by single genotypes. The maximum inter cluster D2 value was found between cluster II and VI (1620.05) followed by cluster IV and VI (1262.95), cluster II and V (1098.44), cluster II and cluster III 195 Genetic Divergence Study in Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) (851.00), cluster I and cluster VI (749.76) and cluster IV and V (685.87). The minimum inter-cluster D2 values was observed between cluster III and V (103.32) followed by cluster V and VI (168.13). Highest inter cluster distance was found in cluster II and VI, suggesting that hybridisation between the genotypes from these clusters may lead to high heterotic effects and better segregants (Rabbani et al., 2012). Similarly, lowest inter cluster distance was observed in cluster III and V indicating that, genotypes exhibited higher genetic similarity (Tyagi et al., 2017). The Per cent contribution of sixteen characters towards total divergence in bitter gourd genotypes is shown in Table 4. Among all the characters, ascorbic acid contributed the maximum (37.31%) to the diversity by taking first rank in 291 times out of 780 combinations, followed by fruit length (15.64% with 122 times ranked first), fruit diameter (14.36% with 112 times ranked first), flesh thickness (11.92% with 93 times ranked first), number of seeds per fruit (9.49% with 74 times ranked first), days to first female flower opening (6.92% with 54 times ranked first), average fruit weight (1.28% with 10 times ranked fir st). While, ther e wa s little a nd negligible Table 2. Cluster composition based on D2 statistics in bitter gourd Cluster Number of Genotypes included in the clustergenotypes I 32 Preethi, Bit-25-2-1, Meghnaa-2, Jhalawar Local-3, CO1, Bit-22-1-1-3, Bit-9-2-4-1, Bit-1-2-3, YellapurLocal-1, Bit-37-2-1, DEB-505, Bit-9-3-2-3, Bit-5-1-2-1, West Bengal Local-1, Super Green, Bit-10-1-1, West Bengal Local-2, Kotla Local-1, Bit- 10-1-2, Bit-5-1-4-1, Contai Bolder, Bit-1-2-2-4, Jhalawar Local-1, GYB-5-1-5-2, Bit- 22-1-1-1, Bit-9-2-1-2, GYL-2, GYB-2-2, Katahi, Bit-35-1-1, Bit-31-2-2, Bit-9-1-4- 1 II 4 GYB-3-1-2, Bit-3-1-2-1, Bit-3-1-1-1, ArkaHarit III 1 YellapurLocal-2 IV 1 IC-68238 V 1 Bit-18-1-1 VI 1 Jhalawar Local-2 I II III IV V VI I 96.08 (9.80) 399.88 (19.20) 207.68 (14.41) 179.48 (13.34) 333.55 (18.26) 749.76 (27.38) II 104.02 (10.12) 851.00 (29.17) 215.32 (14.67) 1098.44 (33.14) 1620.05 (40.25) III 0.00(0.00) 539.69 (23.23) 103.32 (10.16) 369.75 (19.23) IV 0.00 (0.00) 685.87 (26.19) 1262.95 (35.54) V 0.00 (0.00) 168.13 (12.96) VI 0.00 (0.00) Figures in parenthesis denotes corresponding D values Table 3. Intra-cluster (diagonal) and inter-cluster D2 and D values in bitter gourd genotypes Mahalanobis Euclidean Distance (Not to the scale) Fig1. Intra-cluster and inter-cluster distance of bitter gourd genotypes (Trocher’s method) J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 193-198, 2021 196 Table 4. Per cent contribution of sixteen characters towards total divergence in bitter gourd genotypes Sl. Characters No. of times Per cent germplasm No. ranked first contribution 1 Vine length (m) 4 0.51 2 Number of branches per vine 7 0.90 3 Duration of crop (days) 0 0.00 4 Node at which first female flower appears 1 0.13 5 Days to first female flower opening 54 6.92 6 Days to 50 per cent flowering 0 0.00 7 Days to first fruit picking 0 0.00 8 Fruit length (cm) 122 15.64 9 Fruit diameter (cm) 112 14.36 10 Average fruit weight (g) 10 1.28 11 Number of fruits per vine 6 0.77 12 Fruit yield per vine (kg) 6 0.77 13 Fruit yield per hectare (t) 0 0.00 14 Number of seeds per fruit 74 9.49 15 Flesh thickness (mm) 93 11.92 16 Ascorbic acid (mg/100g) 291 37.31 Total 780 100.00 contribution from number of branches per vine (0.90%), number of fruits per vine (0.77%), fruit yield per vine (0.77%), vine length (0.51%) and node at which first female flower appears (0.13%). Similar results were reported by Sidhu and Pathak, 2016 in bitter gourd. However, the duration of crop, days to 50 per cent flowering, days to first fruit picking and fruit yield per hectare had no contribution towards genetic divergence. Simila r findings wer e also observed by Sundaram (2008) and Bhagwat et al. (2013). Apart from the divergence, the performance of genotypes and the char acter with ma ximum contribution towards divergence should also be given due consideration which appear as desirable for improvement of bitter gourd (Deepa and Mariyappan, 2013). Cluster means of forty genotypes showed that mean values of cluster varied for all the sixteen characters studied. Cluster II, V an VI performed better for the biometric parameters studied. Among the clusters, cluster VI was generally poor and cluster I as well as cluster III were intermediate in number of fruits per vine and fruit yield (Table 5.). Cluster II with four genotypes showed early flowering, flowering at lower node and early fruit picking. Cluster II had smaller fruits but the number of fruits per vine was highest. Cluster VI with one genotype had longer fruits (30 cm), lower fruit diameter with high average fruit weight and higher ascorbic acid content (112.43). Higher number of branches, longer duration of crop and higher fruit yield was noticed in cluster V with one genotype (Bit-18-1-1). Highest vine length was observed in the cluster III (3.67 m). Cluster I with maximum number of genotypes showed intermediate performance for almost all the characters observed. The best cluster with yield and yield components studied was cluster V followed by cluster III and cluster I. By using these elite germplasms, there is a scope for varietal improvement in bitter gourd. Inter-crossing of genotypes based on the mean performance for their characters would be effective for further crop improvement. To develop early varieties with small fruits and higher number of fruits per vine, cluster II would be effective as it showed early flowering. Selection from cluster I would be useful in breeding moderately early flowering, intermediate yield with longer crop duration. Cluster VI can be used in breeding for longer fruits with greater average fruit Nithinkumar et al J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 193-198, 2021 197 Table 5. The cluster mean of sixteen characters for six clusters in bitter gourd genotypes Sl. Characters Cluster Cluster Cluster Cluster Cluster Cluster No. I II III IV V VI 1 Vine length (m) 2.71 1.91 3.67 1.84 2.58 2.33 2 Number of branches per vine 10.54 8.15 10.60 8.50 11.00 9.40 3 Duration of crop (days) 95.79 85.56 92.13 86.50 98.50 94.00 4 Node at which first female flower appears 15.39 11.33 15.50 14.10 14.30 16.50 5 Days to first female flower opening 41.46 35.69 37.60 42.55 41.35 44.50 6 Days to 50 per cent flowering 44.10 37.88 41.50 44.75 47.50 44.77 7 Days to first fruit picking 58.74 50.59 56.00 58.00 61.50 59.50 8 Fruit length (cm) 16.94 7.05 22.43 13.49 29.05 30.00 9 Fruit diameter (cm) 4.82 4.46 4.48 5.48 5.04 2.85 10 Average fruit weight (g) 84.68 36.91 85.60 79.00 88.70 91.85 11 Number of fruits per vine 12.87 14.76 13.10 12.10 14.60 8.85 12 Fruit yield per vine (kg) 1.11 0.53 1.14 0.96 1.28 0.69 13 Fruit yield per hectare (t) 10.24 4.92 10.55 8.87 11.82 6.38 14 Number of seeds per fruit 18.06 8.75 23.50 10.50 20.50 18.25 15 Flesh thickness (mm) 6.09 4.63 4.94 9.41 6.69 4.11 16 Ascorbic acid (mg/100g) 94.56 101.45 84.10 100.50 102.42 112.43 weight and higher ascorbic acid content, as the demand is increasing in our country. To breed varieties with higher yield and late flowering, selection from cluster V would be useful. CONCLUSION Genetic divergence has been consider ed a s a n important factor in discriminating the genetically diver se pa r ents for efficient a nd successful hybridization programme in order to get potential tr ansgr essive segrega nts a nd also pr ovide new recombination of genes in the gene pool.Maximum inter cluster distance observed between cluster II and cluster IV followed by cluster IV and cluster V and cluster II and V. This indicates, the genotypes belonging tocluster II (GYB-3-1-2, Bit-3-1-2-1, Bit- 3-1-1-1, ArkaHarit), cluster IV (IC-68238) and cluster V (Bit-18-1-1) a r e mor e diver se a nd hence, hybridization between genotypes of respective cluster may improve the yield and quality of bitter gourd. REFERENCES Bhagwat, S., Anoop, K. S. and Shailesh, K., 2013, Genetic divergence studies in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.). Acad. J. Plant Sci., 6 (2): 89-91. Choudhary, B. R., Fageria, M. S. and Dhaka, R. S., 2003, Textbook on production technology of vegetables. Kalyani Publishers. pp. 183- 201. Deepa, D. N. and Mariyappan, S., 2013, Studies on genetic diversity in Snake Gourd (Tr icho san the sang uin a L . ). Af ri can . J. Agric. Res., 8(42): 5221-5225. Mahalanobis, P. C., 1936, On the genera lised distance in statistics. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., (India): pp. 79-85. Rabbani, M. G., Naher, M. J. and Hoque, S., 2012, Va r ia b ilit y, c ha r a c t er a s s oc ia t ion a nd diver sity ana lysis of r idge gourd ( Luffa acutangulaRoxb.) genotypes of Bangladesh. SAARC J. Agric., 10(2): 1-10. Genetic Divergence Study in Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 193-198, 2021 198 Rao, C. R., 1952, Advanced statistical methods in biometrical research. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. p. 390 Sidhu, G. K., Pathak, M., 2016, Genetic diversity a na lys i s in b it t er g ou r d ( M o m o rd i c a charantiaL.) using morphological traits. Int. J. Agric. Innov. Res. Singh, B., Singh, A. K. and Kumar, S., 2013, Genetic divergence studies in bitter gourd (Received on 07.07.2021, Revised on 27.11.2021 and Accepted on 06.01.2022) (Momordica charantia L.).Acad. J. Plant Sci. 6:89-91. Sundaram, V., 2008, Genetic diversity studies for parental selection in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.). Asian J. Hort., 3(2): 333-335. Tyagi, N., Singh, V. B. and Tripathi, V. 2017, Studies on genetic divergence in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.). Indian J. Ecol. 2017(44): 607-609. Nithinkumar et al J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 16(2) : 193-198, 2021 00 Contents.pdf 07 Nitin Kumar.pdf 19 Lamesssa.pdf 20 Divya.pdf 21 Wani.pdf 23 Index and Last Pages.pdf