Genetic Variability and Character Associations for Quantitative Traits of Squash (Cucurbita pepo) Genotypes

Hassanein, I. M. E; Abdein, M. A.; Rashwan, A. A. M.; El-Shaieny, A. A. H.; Zayed, G. A.

doi:10.21608/jpp.2025.426168.1511

Genetic Variability and Character Associations for Quantitative Traits of Squash (Cucurbita pepo) Genotypes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Hortic. Depart., Fac. of Agric., South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt

² Seeds Dev. Dep., El-Nada Misr Scientific Research and Development Projects,, Turrell, Mansoura, 35511, Egypt

³ Hortic. Res. Institute, Agriculture Research Center, 12619 Giza, Egypt

10.21608/jpp.2025.426168.1511

Abstract

For the majority of characteristics, there were only minor variations between GCV% and PCV%, suggesting that genetic influences play a significant role in regulating how these traits are inherited. The majority of the traits under study exhibited high GCV/PCV %, according to the results. In terms of yield, the genotypes showed significant and nearly equal genetic advancement. For practically every trait under study, the range of variability between several genotypes was very significant. The potential utility of these traits and genotypes to create breeding programs to increase fruit output and quality was demonstrated by strong estimates of heritability and a high predicted genetic progress. Analysis of correlations showed that variables related to yield had a high genetic connection. Path coefficient analysis identified the number of fruits per plant (direct effect: 1.3786) and average fruit weight (direct effect: 0.7794) as having the strongest positive direct effects on yield. The results suggest that selection based on the number of fruits per plant and average fruit weight would be most effective for improving squash yield. Regarding the relative importance of joint effects, it is obvious that their effective parts were obtained by number of fruits/plant on yield through its associations with each of average of fruit weight (25.5 & 24.2%) and 100-seed weight (3.8 & 9.03%).

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