The present study was conducted to determine phenotypic performance, genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, diversity, correlation and path analysis for yield and seventeen yield attributing characters of forty five sponge gourd germplasm. PCV was higher than GCV for all the traits studied. High PCV and GCV were recorded for number of primary branches, number of fruiting nodes on main stem, sex ratio, fruits per plant and yield per plant. Thirteen characters showed high heritability coupled with high genetic advance. Correlation coefficient study indicated that yield per plant had highly significant positive relationship with number of primary branches, fruiting nodes on main stem, fruit length, fruit weight, fruits per plant, seeds per fruit and 100 seed weight. Path co-efficient analysis showed that fruits per plant () and number of seeds per fruit () exhibited the highest positive direct effect on yield per plant. Based on Mahalanobis’ D2 statistics, the forty five genotypes were grouped into seven different clusters. Maximum intra cluster distance was in cluster- III () where maximum inter-cluster distance was between cluster- IV and cluster- V (). Characters namely yield per plant, fruit weight and number of fruiting nodes on main stem showed maximum contribution towards divergence, hence considering these characters in selection of diverse parents during hybridization program manifests high heterosis. | Genetic variability, diversity and character association in sponge gourd [Luffacylindrica (Roem.) L.]
