GENETIC ANALYSIS OF PARENTS FOR HYBRID VARIETY DEVELOPMENT IN BITTER GOURD (Momordica charantia L.)

Abstract

The research program was undertaken to study the genetic analysis of parents for identifying the best cross combination to develop hybrid variety in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.). All experiments were conducted at R & D Farm, Lal Teer Seed Limited, Gazipur, Bangladesh. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among 27 tested inbred lines, 25 used as parents and 2 used as testers, for all the characters. The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) was smaller than corresponding phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV). Narrow differences between GCV and PCV and high heritability coupled with high genetic advance (GA) were observed for first female flower opening, number of fruits per plant, single fruit weight, fruit length, number of seeds per fruit and yield per plant. It was observed that the magnitude of genotypic correlations was higher than the corresponding phenotypic correlations coefficients between various pairs of characters. Correlation analysis revealed that yield per plant, at phenotypic and genotypic level, was significantly and positively correlated with single fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, fruit length and fruit diameter. Path coefficient analysis showed that single fruit weight had maximum direct effect on yield per plant followed by number of fruits per plant, days at phenotypic and genotypic levels. The heritability in broad sense was ranges from 66.63 to 93.52 % for all the characters. Out of 27 lines, seven diverse inbred lines were selected based on combined ranking value of general combining ability (GCA) from Line x Tester analysis and mean performance. Finally, the parents BT-1, BT-4, BT-7, BT-13, BT-15, BT-18 and BT-19 were selected for 7x7 diallel crossing program. Based on diallel analysis, significant GCA was recorded for days to first female flower opening, fruit length and diameter, single fruit weight, number of fruits per plant, 100-seed weight and yield per plant. Four parents (BT-07, BT-15, BT-18 and BT-19) were selected as good general combiners. Heterosis was studied with standard check variety (Tia) and two cross combinations namely, BT-15 X BT-07 and BT-18 X BT-19 showed better performance having good market value and they were registered as the name of HSTU-1 (Registration number: 1(27)/293/ 2020) and HSTU-2 (Registration number: 1(27)/294/ 2020), respectively from National Seed Board (NSB) under Ministry of Agriculture for commercial cultivation in entire Bangladesh. In this experiment, line x tester analysis plays significant role in selecting parents for hybrid. Parents are selected randomly in vegetable for hybrid variety development in public and private sector in Bangladesh but line x tester analysis utilizes genetic background and this method can be utilized in systemic manner for parent selection of hybrid variety development.