INHERITANCE OF PUBESCENCE TYPES IN MELON (CUCUMIS MELO L.): HISPID, GLABROUS AND PUBERULENT

Abstract

The stems, petioles, and major veins of leaves are covered with bulbous-based bristles (hispid stem and leaf) in normal melon plant. The stem and leaf glabrous is a mutant controlled by a pair of recessive genes (gl). An unusual stem and leaf mutant was described in melon, this mutant is characterized by stem, petioles, and major veins of leaves are puberulent. The objective of these experiments was to study the genetic relationship of three pubescence traits. Two crossed were used to study the inheritance of pubescence type P A (M453, hispid) × P B (M455, puberulent), P B (M455, puberulent) × P c (M292, glabrous); and two sets of six generations (P A , P B , F 1 , F 2 , BC 1A , BC 1B and P B , P C , F 1 ', F 2 ', BC 1B ', BC 1C ') were developed. Based on performance of the 1st set of six generations, In the F 1 and BC 1A generation, all plants was normal (hispid) stem, the F 2 and BC 1B individuals segregated at the ratio showed the data were consistent with a 3:1 and 1:1 expected ratio respectively. It was confirmed that the puberulent type was inherited as a single recessive gene. The phenotype in another six generations of the cross P B ×P c showed F 1 'plant were normal (hispid), the ratio of BC 1B ' and BC 1C ' individuals segregated normal: puberulent and normal: glabrous were 1:1. The F 2 ' individuals showed three phenotype: normal, puberulent, glabrous, and the data of F 2 ' individuals segregated confirmed a good fit of 9 (normal): 3 (puberulent): 4 (glabrous) ratio, It shows that puberulent was non-allelic to glabrous, and that glabrous is recessive epistatic to puberulent. As a puberulant mutation, it is potentially useful in seeds production, genetic, and biochemical studies.