Exploitation of heterosis and combining ability for earliness, yield and quality attributes utilizing parthenocarpic gynoecious cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) inbreds under two poly-net house environments
摘要
In order to realize the development of superior parthenocarpic gynoecious cucumber hybrids (PGCHs) for year round production under poly-net house conditions, eleven parthenocarpic gynoecious parents comprising four lines and seven testers were hybridized using a line × tester mating scheme. The 28 F1 hybrids along with their respective parents were evaluated during winter and summer seasons for ten yield and quality related traits. Line × tester analysis revealed that testers contributed most significantly to the expression of the studied traits, underscoring their key role in determining hybrid performance. Among the parents, lines PBRK-16 and PBRK-15 together with testers PBRK-1 and PBRK-8 were identified as superior general combiners, exhibiting consistently high and stable performance across seasons for yield and quality traits. Based on heterosis, mean performance and specific combining ability (SCA) effects, the hybrids PRRK-16 × PBRK-18, PRRK-16 × PBRK-1 and PRRK-15 × PBRK-8 demonstrated high yield per plant, desirable fruit length and diameter and stable performance in both seasons. Furthermore, the positive association between the general combining ability (GCA) effects of the parental lines and the specific combining ability (SCA) effects of the hybrids and their respective per se performance confirmed the reliability of combining ability estimates for predicting hybrid potential. Overall, the identified promising PGCHs can be recommended for round the year production under poly-net house conditions.
Graphical abstract