Genetic analysis and heterotic performance of bitter gourd hybrids under the temperate Himalayan Region

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at Vegetable Experimental Farm, Division of Vegetable Science Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology of Kashmir to generate information about magnitude of heterosis of thirty crosses for earliness and quality traits. Thirty crosses were developed by crossing ten diverse lines with three testers using Line X Tester mating design (LXT) (Kempthorne, 1957) [9]. The set of thirty crosses along with their parents were evaluated in a RCBD design with three replications at three different locations. The observations were recorded on twelve traits viz., node to first male flower appearance, node to first female flower appearance, days to anthesis of first male flower, days to anthesis of first female flower, days to first fruit harvest, total carotenoids (mg 100g-1), total phenols (mg100g-1), total chlorophyll (mg 100g-1), iron content (mg 100g-1), vitamin-C content (mg 100g-1), dry matter (%) and dietary fibre content (%). Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the parents and crosses for almost all the traits in individual as well as pooled environments indicating that the materials selected for present investigation were diverse. The mean squares due to parents vs crosses were significant for all the traits (except total carotenoids) which indicated the possibility of sufficient amount of heterosis exploitation for these traits. The extent of heterosis exhibited by crosses were estimated over standard parent Arka Harit. For Earliness traits, crosses NDBG-17 × Jounpuri, NDBG-17 × LBG, NDBG-12 × Local bitter gourd, and NDBG-12 × Arka Harit possessed desirable negative significant standard heterosis along with good per se performance. Crosses viz: NDBG-4 × Arka Harit and NDBG-1 x Arka Harit showed desirable significant positive heterosis for maximum quality traits.