Heterosis study for earliness and yield attributing characters in bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.]

Abstract

A study involving 10 lines and 4 testers namely VRBG-107, VRBG-408, VRBG-1001, VRBG-1003, IC-092467, IC-144389, NDBG-104, DVBG-2, PBOG-40, IC-042345(lines); PSPL, Pusa Naveen, Arka Bahar and Selection-1(testers) mated in line x tester fashion producing hybrids were evaluated at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U.P.) during the Spring-Summer 2015. The study revealed significant heterosis among the crosses, while the best heterotic combinations recorded for various earliness and yield attributing traits were VRBG-1003 × Pusa Naveen, IC-144389 × Pusa Naveen, VRBG-1003 × PSPL and VRBG-1001 × Arka Bahar for early flowering; VRBG-408 × Arka Bahar and VRBG-1003 × Arka Bahar for lower nodes of flowering; DVBG-2 × Pusa Naveen and DVBG-2 × Selection-1 for longer vine length; NDBG-104 × PSPL and NDBG-104 × Pusa Naveen for more number of primary branches; NDBG-104 × PSPL and IC-042345 × Selection-1 for fruit weight; DVBG-2 × Arka Bahar and VRBG-107 × Arka Bahar for fruit length; cross combinations DVBG-2 × Arka Bahar and DVBG-2 × Pusa Naveen for number of fruits per plant; and NDBG-104 × PSPL, IC-042345 × Pusa Naveen and DVBG-2 × Pusa Naveen for fruit yield per plant.