Combining ability of quantitative characters in bittergourd (Momordica charantia)

Abstract

A study was conducted during 1995 at Varanasi on the combining ability in 8 lines X 3 testers crosses for 13component characters in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L). Significant differences were observed for all the charactersunder study. The variances due to sca were higher than the gca for all the characters indicating the predominanceof non-additive gene effects. 'Narendra' and 'VRBT 46' were good general combiners for marketable fruit yield.'VRBT 46' was good general combiner for leaf length, fruit length, fruit girth and number of seeds/fruit. The crosses'Faislabad'X'VRBT 46','Ie 44410 B'x'VRBT 46','Ic 50516'x'VRBT 77', 'MC 48'x'VRBT 78' and 'Narendra'X 'VRBT 78' combined well for earliness. For marketable yield, the good cross combinations were 'Narendra'x'VRBT46', 'Arka Harit'X'VRBT 78','MC 63'x'VRBT 77' and 'Ic 50516'x'VRBT 77'.