Vol. 9, Special Issue 12, Part E (2025)

Ash gourd (Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.) is a nutritionally rich and medicinally important cucurbit cultivated across diverse agro-climatic regions in India. Despite its economic and industrial value, particularly in the food and pharmaceutical sectors, systematic breeding efforts remain limited. The present study aimed to identify key yield-contributing traits and quantify their direct and indirect effects on fruit yield to support effective selection in ash gourd improvement programmes. Eighteen genotypes were evaluated during rabi 2023 at the College of Horticulture, Bagalkot using an augmented block design. Observations were recorded for growth, earliness and yield traits. Correlation and path coefficient analyses were performed following standard statistical procedures. Fruit yield per vine showed significant positive correlation with vine length, number of branches, fruit diameter, average fruit weight, flesh thickness and seed cavity size, indicating their strong influence on productivity. Earliness traits exhibited significant negative associations with yield. Path analysis revealed high positive direct effects of number of branches, average fruit weight and flesh thickness, supported by additional positive contributions from vine length, fruit diameter and seed cavity size. Negative direct effects were observed for earliness traits. The low residual effect (0.031) confirmed the adequacy of the evaluated traits. Overall, the results indicate that selection for average fruit weight, flesh thickness, number of branches and vine length would be most effective for developing high-yielding ash gourd genotypes.