Selecting parents for developing superior hybrids in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Abstract

Estimates of general combining ability of parents and specific combining ability of the crosses help to select desidered parents for hybridization and development of superior hybrids. Crosses among eight parents were attempted in a half-diallel fashion. The material comprising eight parents, 28 F1s and one check (Pusa Sanyog) was sown at two locations in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The highest estimates of general combining ability (gca) were exhibited by G2 and Gyn1 for most of the characters at both the locations. In general, there was close agreement between gca effects and per se performance, but in some cases it did not hold good, which may be due to a higher degree of gene action involved. The superior cross combinations which recorded high specific combining ability (sca) estimates and per se performance for yield and number of fruits were K-90 x G2 and K-90 x Gyn1 and hence may be exploited for the development of F1 hybrid (s) after testing their performance at multi-locations for two to three years.