Combining ability analysis in bitter gourd using gynoecious lines

Hybrid seed production in bitter melon is expensive because of handpollination but the utilization of gynoecy is economical and easier method for exploiting hybrid vigour in bitter melon. An experiment (36 F1 and 15 parents) was conducted during 2011 at Experimental Farm of Indian Institute of Vegetable, Varanasi on the combining ability in 3 gynoecious line × 12 monoecious tester for thirteen quantitative characters in bitter gourd. Significant differences were observed for all characters. Mean square due to GCA and SCA were highly significant for all the traits studied to suggest the importance of both additive and non-additive gene effects. Gynoecious line Gy323was the best combiner for all the traits except fruit diameter and seeds/fruit, whereas monoecious line DRAL-4I was best general combiner for first flower anthesis and internodal length as they have made significant contribution in yield contributing characters. The gynoecious combination Gy333 × DRAL-41, Gy323 × DVBTG-7 and Gy323 × VRBT-904 exhibited high SCAeffect for all traits in desired direction. The finding of experiments confirmed the potentiality of gynoecious based hybrids for high yield and earliness. These crosses can be exploited as desirable hybrids.