ESTIMATION OF HETEROSIS FOR YIELD TRAITS IN BOTTLE GOURD [LAGENARIA SICERARIA (MOL.) STANDL.] UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

The current study was conducted to quantify heterosis for important yield characteristics in bottle gourd. Six genetically dissimilar inbred genotypes were crossed through full diallel mating scheme generating 30 F₁ hybrids that, together with parents and a commercial check 'Kashi Ganga', were tested in three environments, namely, Summer (E₁), Rainy (E₂) and Winter (E₃) of 2022 using Randomized Complete Block Design replicated thrice. Heterosis for fruit length, fruit diameter, number of fruits per vine, mean fruit weight and fruit yield attributes was calculated over mid-parent, better parent and standard check. Environmental effect on hybrid performance was very evident as considerable variation in heterotic performance was recorded among environments. In case of fruit length, F₁ hybrids NJ × BG-65, BG-21-2 × RBG and BG-65 × PN possessed high positive heterosis in all three environments. Highest heterosis for fruit diameter was recorded in hybrid RBG × BG-65 in all three environments. In the case of number of fruits per vine, crosses BG-21-2 × BG-23, BG-21-2 × PN and RBG × BG-23 had shown better heterotic responses, whereas crosses PN × BG-21-2, BG-65 × PN and BG-23 × BG-21-2 showed significant positive heterosis for average fruit weight. Some hybrids had also shown considerable standard heterosis over the commercial check and had the commercial potential. It has been observed in the present investigation that the level of heterosis depended upon environmental factors; but a few hybrids had shown superiority in terms of stability and adaptability. Crosses like BG 65 × PN, NJ × BG-65, BG-21-2 × RBG and RBG × BG-23 had been found to be most promising. These crosses can be used in commercial hybrid production and can serve as excellent source material for breeding bottle gourd cultivars in future breeding programs.