Analysis of bitter gourd genotypes for yield and traits that contribute to yield using character association and path coefficients under temperate conditions of Kashmir

A field experiment was conducted on several genotypes of bitter gourd at the Vegetable Experimental Field of SKUAST-K, Shalimar, Srinagar in 2019 to study correlation and path coefficient analysis for eleven yield and yield contributing characteristics. To evaluate 33 bitter gourd genotypes, a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications was employed. The magnitude and type of the phenotypic correlation coefficients between different traits and their resulting genotypic correlation coefficients were frequently similar. It was discovered that the number of fruits per plant and days to first fruit harvest strongly and favourably correlated with the yield per plant. Fruit yield per plant was significantly benefited by the number of fruits per plant, fruit length, and days to anthesis of the first pistillate flower, according to the study of the path coefficient. Such traits may be thought of as high yield indicators for bitter gourd and might be applied as selection factors in breeding programmes to boost bitter gourd production. © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Plant Research 2024.