Inbreeding depression in sponge gourd [Luffa cylindrica (Roem.)L.]

Abstract

In breeding depression study was carried out in 10 x 10 diallel cross excluding reciprocal of sponge gourd during 2004-2006 and data were analyzed for inbreeding depression. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences due to treatments, crosses and interaction (parents vs crosses) for all the characters under study during kharif and summer. The inbreeding depression results due to fixation of unfavorable recessive genes in F2. In the present study high breeding depression indicates the presence of non-additive gene action (dominance and epistasis) for traits like first female bud initiation, fruit weight, vine length and number of fruit/plant. Significant in breeding depression was noticed maximum for fruit yield (34.72%) during both the year. The minimum in breeding depression was observed in cross VR-104 x VR-103 (13.51%) followed by NSG-28 x Pusa Supriya (13.33%) for fruit yield.