GENETIC ANALYSIS AND POWDERY MILDEW RESISTANCE IN BITTER GOURD (MOMORDICA CHARANTIA L.)

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Allahabad Agricultural Institute-Deemed University, Allahabad during the years 2003, 2004 and 2005. Ten parents (six lines and four testers) of diverse nature, namely: MC-84 (L 1 ), S-17 (L 2 ), JMC-21 (L 3 ), NDBT-15 (L 4 ), VRBT-94 (L 5 ), Gy-I (L 6 ), VRBT-6-9 (T 1 ), JMC-22 (T 2 ), VRBT-89 (T 3 ), and MC-56 (T 4 ) were selected from 28 lines of bitter gourd for this study. These lines and testers were crossed in a line x tester fashion and 24 hybrids (F 1 ) were made. These hybrids were grown in a randomized block design with three replications. All the genotypes, parents, and hybrids differed significantly for all the traits. In terms of general combining ability, Gy-I (L 6 ) was good general combiner for number of fruits per vine, internodal length, days to first appearance of male flower and vine length. For yield per vine, yield/ha, fruit width, and days to first appearance of female flower, MC-84 (L 1 ) was found to be the best general combiner and S-17 for fruit length. VRBT-6-9 was recorded to be a comparatively better general combiner for powdery mildew resistance. The crosses MC-84×JMC-22 (L 1 ×T 2 ) for yield/ha, MC-84×VRBT-6-9 (L 1 ×T 1 ) for yield per vine, fruit width, days to first appearance of female flower, number of primary branches per vine, and S-17×VRBT-6-9 (L 2 ×T 1 ) for powdery mildew resistance exhibited significant specific combining ability (SCA). Some of the crosses manifest significant parent heterosis for many of the horticultural traits. Vine length and fruit length showed positive significant heterosis, while days to first appearance to female flower manifest negative significant heterosis for several crosses. Two crosses namely, MC-84×VRBT-6-9 and MC-84×JMC 22, were found to have greatest potential in terms of yield/ha, while two other crosses, viz., S-17×VRBT-6-9 and S-17×JMC-22, were found superior in terms of powdery mildew resistance.