Combining ability of quantitative characters in bittergourd (Momordica charantia)

A study was conducted during 1995 at Varanasi on the combining ability in 8 lines x 3 testers crosses for 13 component characters in bitter gourd (Mom ordica charantia L). Significant differences were observed for all the char acters under study. The variances due to sea were higher than the gca for a ll the characters indicating the predominance of non-additive gene effects. 'Narendra' and 'VRBT 46' were good general combiners for marketable fruit yield. 'VRBT 46' was good general combiner for leaf length, fruit length, f ruit girth and number of seeds' fruit. The crosses 'Faislabad' x 'VRBT 46', 'IC 44410 B' x 'VRBT 46', 'IC 50516' x 'VRBT 77', 'MC 48' x 'VRBT 78' and 'Narendra' x 'VRBT 78' combined well for earliness. For marketable yield, t he good cross combinations were 'Narendra' x 'VRBT 46','Arka Harit' x 'VRBT 78','MC 63' x 'VRBT 77' and 'IC 50516' x 'VRBT 77'.