Abstract:
An experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Dhaka, during
Kharif I, 2020 using thirteen muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) genotype to study the
genetic variability among the genotype in a randomized complete block design with three
replications. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences for various traits
among genotypes. For all of the characters, phenotypic variance are greater than
genotypic variance. The number of fruits per plant (47.73), single fruit weight (52.55),
and yield plant per plant (90.40) all had high genotypic co-efficients of variation (GCV).
High heritability with high genetic advance in percent of mean was observed in number
of fruits per plant (86.05), single fruit weight (99.12), rind thickness (24.33) and yield
plant per plant (93.47) which indicated that these traits would be effective for genetic
improvement. High heritability with low genetic advance in percent of mean was
observed in days to first male flowering (59.93) and days to first female flowering
(60.15). The result revealed a highly significant positive correlation with plant height
(rg= 0.615, rp= 0.541), number of branches per plant (rg= 0.698, rp= 0.530), number of
fruits per plant (rg= 0.652, rp= 0.703), single fruit weight(rg= 0.854, rp= 0.778), rind
thickness (rg= 0.579, rp= 0.517), and flash thickness (rg= 0.664, rp= 0.649) to yield per
plant. Thirteen muskmelon genotypes were grouped into four cluster. Cluster III
exhibited maximum 5 genotypes while cluster I had only 2 genotypes. Among four
cluster, the highest inter-cluster distance (8.13) was observed between clusters II and IV,
while the lowest (5.164) was observed between clusters I and III. Cluster IV had the
highest intra cluster distance (3.144), while Cluster II had the lowest (0.874). Considering
group distance and phenotypic performances, the inter genotypic crosses between G13
(BD-11268) and G11 (BD-11266); G13 and G12 (BD-11267); G13 and G2 (BD-11254);
G12 and G11; G12 and G2; and G11 and G2 might be suggested for future hybridization
program.
