Gene Action and Heterosis Studies for Yield and its Attributes in Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia. L) under Temperate Ecologies

Thirty crosses developed through Line x Tester mating design along with their parents were evaluated for combining ability, heterosis and gene action for yield and its attributes in bitter gourd. The experimental material was evaluated in RCBD design with three replications at three different locations viz., Vegetable Experimental Farm, Division of Vegetable Science, SKUAST-Kashmir, Shalimar Srinagar (E1); Faculty of Agriculture, Wadura, Sopore (E2) and KVK Malangpora, Pulwama (E3). The mean squares due to parents vs crosses were significant for all the traits, which indicated the possibility of sufficient amount of heterosis exploitation for these traits. The \(\sigma\)2sca was found to be more than \(\sigma\)2gca for all the traits under study which indicated the preponderance of non-additive gene action for the traits. Both the variances (\(\sigma\)2gca and \(\sigma\)2sca ) were significant for most of the traits which reflects the importance of both additive and non-additive gene effects in the inheritance of these traits. The lines viz: NDBG-4, NDBG-1, NDBG-5, Pant Karela-1 and NDBG-7 were found to be good general combiners for most the economic traits. The extent of heterosis exhibited by crosses were estimated over standard parent (Arka Harit). The crosses viz: Pant Karela-1 × Arka Harit, NDBG-4 × Arka Harit, NDBG-1 × Arka Harit, NDBG-7 × Jounpuri, NDBG-5 × Jounpuri, NDBG-5 × Local bitter gourd, Pant Karela-1 × Jounpuri, NDBG-4 × Local bitter gourd and NDBG-4 × Local bitter gourd showed high standard heterosis for yield and yield attributes. These crosses can be exploited as desirable hybrids for yield.