Combining ability in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Mansf.)

  • Sapovadiya M. H., Mehta D. R.,* Dhaduk H .
Keywords: Watermelon, combining ability, diallel analysis, TSS

Abstract

In the present investigation, the nature and magnitude of combining ability effects in twenty-eight crosses of watermelon
involving eight parents were studied for fruit yield and its components. The variances due to specific combining ability
were higher in magnitude than that of general combining ability variances for all the characters (except for total soluble
solids) indicating predominance role of non-additive gene action for all the traits. Parents, RW-187-2, GP-42 and GP-10(b)
were good general combiner for all the four traits. The cross combination viz., GP-42 x GP-42 (b), RW-187-2 x Sonam, GP42

x Sonam, GP-42 (b) x Sonam, RW-187-2 x GP-42 (b), GP-10 (b) x RW-187-2,GP-10 (b) x GP-42, GP-33 x GP-1-27,
GP-10 (b) x Durgapura Lal, RW-187-2 x Durgapura Lal and RW-187-2 x GP-42 were found to be good specific cross
combiners for fruit yield per plant. The crosses exhibiting high specific combining ability for fruit yield also have high or
average combining ability for yield components. The crosses showing high specific combining ability involved at least one
high general combining parent.

Published
30-09-2014
How to Cite
Sapovadiya M. H., Mehta D. R.,* Dhaduk H .
Combining ability in watermelon Citrullus lanatus Thunb. Mansf.. 2014. Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding, 5 3, 327-330. Retrieved from https://ejplantbreeding.org/index.php/EJPB/article/view/12
Section
Research Article