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  • PublicationJournal Article
    Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley is a prominent food source as almost all its plant parts are edible. However, no studies have recorded the changes in shoots, peduncles and fruits during its growth. Hence, this study aimed to record changes in shoot traits and relate the peduncle to the fruit traits of L. siceraria landraces across different growth stages. Changes in shoots, peduncles and fruits during growth were compared within and among landraces using analysis of variance, correlation, principal component analysis, cluster analysis and heritability estimates. Almost all landraces had harvestable shoots at 42 days after sowing. Peduncles became shorter and wider as the fruits elongated. Shoots, peduncles and fruits correlated positively with each other. The informative principal components had a total variability of 84.488%, with a major contribution from shoot traits. The biplot and dendrogram clustered landraces with similar growth habits and the harvestable shoot and fruit attributes into three clusters, but KRI and NSRC formed singlets. Shoot width (60.2%) and peduncle length (55.2%) had high heritability estimates. The general low heritability estimates and genetic advances indicated the presence of non-additive gene action. This study is the first report on changes in harvested shoots and the relationship between peduncles and fruits during growth.
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  • PublicationJournal Article
    Lagenaria siceraria is one of the most important cucurbitaceous vegetables due to its prolific bearing habit, its edibility as a cooked vegetable, and its low cost of cultivation. The objective of this study was to evaluate variation in the morpho-agronomic traits among selected landraces and their F1 populations. The landraces were crossed based on the North Carolina II genetic design to develop F1 populations. The twelve F1 populations along with seven parental landraces were grown in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed among quantitative traits suggesting considerable genetic variability. The genotypes displayed significant variation in most qualitative traits of fruits and seeds. The first five principal components of quantitative traits among the evaluated 19 genotypes contributed 74.84% of the variability. The biplot and dendrogram clustered the genotypes into five clusters according to their vegetative, fruit, and seed traits. The highest value for the broad-sense heritability estimate was recorded for days to edible harvest maturity trait. The F1 progenies were more variable than the landraces and can therefore be used for further Lagenaria siceraria genetic improvement.
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