HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY IN BITTERGOURD (MOMORDICA-CHARANTIA)

An experiment was conducted during rainy seasons (kharif) of 1989 and 1990 to study the heterosis and combining ability for fruit characters in bittergourd (Momordica charantia L.) in a 9 x 9 parental diallel c ross (excluding reciprocal). Both additive and non-additive gene actio ns were involved in the character expression of number of fruits/plant , fruit length, fruit breadth, fruit weight and yield in bittergourd, along with appreciable heterosis. 'Coimbatore Long' was a good general combiner for all the characters. Hybrids with high effect of specific combining ability involved at least 1 of the parents with high genera l combining ability.