Variability Analysis of the Seeds and Oil Yields of Several Accessions of Citrullus Colocynthis (L.) Collected in Morocco

The ripe fruits of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad was collected in 12 different localities in Morocco to evaluate the variability of seed and oil yields. The measured traits are: seed weight (SW), seed number (SN), the weight of 100 seeds (W 100), seed oil content (OC), seeds yield (SY) and oil yield (OY). The seed oil content is ranging between 17 and 24 % of seed weight. The extrapolated seed yield among the accessions ranged from 156 to 816 Kg ha-1, with an overall mean of 413 Kg ha-1. The oil yield varied between 35 to 172 Kg ha-1. The oil extracted from the seed revealed high levels of unsaturated fatty acids (74 %) with C 18: 2 (60.06 %) and C 18: 1 (11.14 %). The results of ANOVA (GLM) show significant and very highly significant effects according to the characters measured. Significant variability was observed for seed and oil yields. This variability could be exploited for the selection of accessions with high oil yields