Three populations of the bhendi viz, BIP, F2S and F3S developed in 2010 and these populations were evaluated in 2011 to study the extent of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for twelve characters in bhendi. Considerable variation was observed in BIP compared to F2 and F3 populations for most of the characters, which was confirmed by high mean and wider range of variation as evidenced by high to moderate PCV and GCV values for fruit length, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield per plant. High heritability of BIPS was revealed by Arka Anamika / MDU 1 for the traits viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, number of fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit girth and fruit yield per plant which revealed the importance of additive gene action for these traits. Thus it is understood that intermating in early segregating generations of different individuals lead to release of additional variability, since biparental mating among the segregates in the F2 of a cross may provide more opportunity for the recombination to occur, break the linkage blocks and mop up desirable genes.
