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Plant Science Today (PST)

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Early Access

Assessment of genetic divergence in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) through morphological and microsatellite markers for enhanced fruit yield and related traits

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.14498
Submitted
10 March 2026
Published
11-10-2026
Versions

Abstract

Understanding the genetic diversity of crop species is critical for developing effective breeding strategies to improve yield and related traits. This study presents an integrative assessment of genetic diversity among 72 pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) genotypes including standard check varieties, using both morphological traits and molecular markers. The experiment was carried out at ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in augmented block design during the summer season of 2023 with data recorded on 17 quantitative traits. The analysis of variance revealed that the mean sum of squares attributable to genotype was significant to highly significant across all 17 quantitative traits, indicating that the evaluated genotypes exhibited significant genetic diversity for test traits under study. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was observed for characters such as peduncle diameter (73.34 % and 169.72 %, respectively) and seed width (99.85 % and 157.59 %, respectively), making them ideal targets for genetic improvement through selection. Principal component analysis identified seven significant principal components, with PC1 accounting for the largest proportion of variability (13.99 %), followed by PC2 (12.90 %) and PC3 (11.58 %) and highlighting fruit yield per plant, fruit weight and seed width were major contributors to the phenotypic divergence. Molecular profiling using 19 SSR markers revealed high polymorphism with polymorphic information content (PIC) values ranging from 0.36–0.97 and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) clustering delineated seventy-two genotypes into three distinct clusters. The marker CMTm34 had the highest PIC value (0.97), suggesting its exceptional discriminatory power for detecting genetic variability in pumpkin genotypes. Allele frequencies across all markers varied widely, ranging from 8.75 % to 80.00 %, demonstrating the genetic richness and diversity of the genotypes under study. The diverse genotypes identified in this study may be utilised as potential parents in hybrid breeding programmes to develop superior pumpkin lines.

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