Abstract

Telfairia occidentalis (fluted pumpkin) is a leafy vegetable crop popularly cultivated in the South-eastern part of Nigeria for its economic value and important role in nutrition and poverty alleviation. Nine genotypes of fluted pumpkin collected from different localities in Ogun, Lagos and Oyo States Nigeria were grown in the teaching and research farm of the School of Agriculture, Babcock University during the rainy season of 2011, in order to determine genetic variability and heritability of 15 characters comprising of seven vegetative, five fruit and three seed yield traits in fluted pumpkin. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results reveal huge genetic diversity among the genotypes studied. Number of branches per plant, vine length and number of fruits per plant were the most genetically divergent traits measured. Vine length (21.72, 97.38 and 44.16), number of branches per plant (23.86, 96.59, 48.31), seed weight per plant (18.43, 79.31 and 33.81) and leaf width (11.36, 80.73 and 21.03) showed high genotypic coefficient of variability (GCV), heritability and genetic advance (GA). These characters are most likely under additive gene control and can be effective in the prediction of vegetative, fruit and seed yield in Telfairia. Correlation analysis revealed that selection directed towards leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, vine length, vine width, number of fruit per plant, fruit length and fruit width will be efficient in improving vegetative and seed yield in T. occidentalis.

Key words: Fluted pumpkin, cucurbitaceace, divergent, vegetative, genetic advance.