Twenty-eight
C. moschata F1 hybrids involving 8 genotypes as parents (Pusa Vishwas,
S-107-B, S-124-10, NDPK-24, S-15, S-12, S-20, and S-17) in half diallel
fashion were evaluated to study the gene action of yield and its
contributing characters. Dominant gene action was observed for all the
characters, viz. vine length, fruit maturity, fruits per plant, fruit
weight, and yield per plant. In all these characters, dominance
component of variance was greater than the additive component of
variance. The heritability in narrow sense was found to be less than
0.50 for the majority of characters. Low narrow sense of heritability
coupled with higher degree of non-additive gene action (dominance
variance) in yield and its components suggested that heterosis breeding
might be advantageous for obtaining higher gains in pumpkin |