Gene action involved in expression of growth, yield and its contributing traits in bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl]

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out in rainy seasons (Kharif) with aim to find out the gene action for inheritance of morphological, yield and its component traits in bottle gourd. The present study was comprised of seven diverse parents/ inbreds and 42 F1s (including reciprocals) was sown in Randomized Block Design with four replications during September at Students Instructional Farm, N.D.U.A.&T., Kumarganj, Faizabad. The data were recorded on five randomly selected plants in each F1, reciprocal and parents and in each replication for 14 characters viz., days to anthesis of first male flower, days to anthesis of first female flower, node number of first male flower, fruit yield per plant (kg), node number for first female flower, days to first fruit harvest, fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), fruit weight (kg), number of fruits per plant, number of branches per plant, number of nodes per plant, internodal distance (cm), vine length (m).The present study revealed that highly significant values for additive (D) and dominance (Ĥ1 and Ĥ2) effects of components were observed for most of the fourteen traits except the values of D for fruit yield per plant, number of nodes per plant and the values of Ĥ1 for node number of first female flower, days to first fruit harvest, fruit weight, number of branches per plant, number of nodes per plant and the values of Ĥ2 for days to first fruit harvest, fruit weight, number of branches per plant and number of nodes per plant. The proportion of ĥ2./Ĥ2 suggested that the characters under study were mainly governed by at least one major gene