Yield is a complex character controlled by a large number of contributing characters and their interactions. For any effective selection programme, it would be desirable to consider the relative magnitude of association of various characters with yield. The path coefficient technique helps in estimating direct and indirect contribution of various components in building up the total correlation towards yield. The present study was conducted with 10 lines and bottle gourd genotypes including one check variety . Kanak, sown in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications in rainy season-2015 to assess the nature and magnitude of association among yield and its contributing traits in bottle gourd at Vegetable Research Farm of the Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi. A highly significant and positive genotypic correlation was observed for number of fruits per plant with fruit yield per plant (kg) and fruit weight (kg) while this character had highly significant negative association with fruit girth (cm). Path coefficient analysis revealed that average fruit weight had the highest positive direct effect on fruit yield followed by number of fruits per plant, fruit girth (cm), days to 50% male flowering, fruit length (cm), days to 50% female flowering and number of primary branches per vine. | Character association and path coefficient analysis in F3 population of bottle gourd
