Variation for Fruit Morphological, Chemical and Seed Physical Traits in Three Cucurbita pepo L. Genotypes

A collection of three genotypes belong to Cucurbita pepo L. (Family: Cucurbitaceae) representing both fruit-shape morphotypes; zucchini and pumpkin was observed and screened in field and laboratory trials during 2014 at Ismailia, Egypt. The goal of the present investigation was to characterize morphological and chemical variation among and within genotypes. Also, seeds of the three genotypes were evaluated for their dimensional and physical characteristics. A wide range of variability among genotypes was recorded for fruit morphological and chemical characteristics as well as seed dimensional and physical characteristics. Positive significant correlation coefficient values have been detected between most fruit morphological and chemical traits. Fruit length has shown the only negative correlation relation with soluble solid content (S.S.C.) and fruit firmness. Also, highly significant correlation coefficient values were obtained for seed dimensional and physical characteristics with exception for seed thickness and seed weight which showed non- significant or negative correlation relations. Analysis of variance results and F test showed highly significant results for all fruit morphological and chemical traits and for most seed dimensional and physical characteristics except for seed thickness and sphericity which showed non-significant F test. Current results support the development of breeding programs in C. pepo since high genetic variability in its germplasm has been found.