General and specific combining ability for yield-related traits in watermelon

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 1Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

3 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

Estimates of combining ability are useful in determining the value of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) lines in producing new hybrids with high yield and better quality. This research was conducted to estimate the general combining ability (GCA), specific combining ability (SCA), and heterosis for five inbred lines chosen for watermelon breeding at the University of Guilan, Iran. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences among hybrids for fruit weight and the number of lateral branches per plant. The GCA and SCA effects were significant for fruit weight and the number of lateral branches, which indicates the existence of both additive and dominance effects in controlling these two traits. The low narrow sense heritability indicated the smaller impact of additive gene action on fruit weight and the number of lateral branches in watermelon. However, broad sense heritability was high for fruit weight (0.69) and the number of lateral branches (8.88). The large gap between the broad sense heritability and narrow sense heritability indicated the importance of dominance effects in controlling the fruit weight and the number of lateral branches compared to additive effects. These results justify the development of hybrid varieties to exploit the dominance genetic effects in watermelon. The highest fruit weight and the number of lateral branches belonged to the S × Red cross. The highest SCA for the fruit weight was associated with the cross An × S. The cross S × Red had the highest SCA for the number of lateral branches. The high-parent heterosis was also higher in the cross S × Red for these traits. In conclusion, the hybrid S × Red may be proposed for the production of a hybrid variety in watermelon. However, crossing among various genotypes to produce new inbred lines seems necessary for the hybrid breeding program of watermelons in Iran.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Bahari M, Rafii MY, Saleh GB, Latif MA. 2012. Combining ability analysis in complete diallel cross of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai). Sci World J. 1: 1-6.
Baker RJ, 1978. Issues in diallel analysis. Crop Sci. 18: 533-536.
Burrow MD, Coors JG. 1994. Diallel: a microcomputer program for the simulation and analysis of diallel crosses. Agron J. 86: 154-158.
Fasahat P, Rajabi A, Rad JM Derera J. 2016. Principles and utilization of combining ability in plant breeding. Biom Biostat Int J. 4(1): 1-22.
Griffing B, 1956. Concept of general and specific ability in relation to diallel crossing systems. Aust J Biol Sci. 9: 463-493.
Guner N, Wehner TC. 2004. The genes of watermelon. HortScience. 39(6): 1175-1182.
Gvozdanovic-Varga J, Vasic M, Milic D, Cervenski J. 2011. Diallel cross analysis for fruit traits in watermelon. Genetika. 43(1): 163-174.
Kempthorne O. 1969. An introduction to genetic statistics. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press.
Kupper RS, Staub JE. 1988. Combining ability between lines of Cucumis sativus L. and Cucumis sativus var. Hardwickii (R.) Alef. Euphytica. 38: 197-220.
Levi A, Thomas CE, Wehner TC, Zhang X. 2001. Low genetic diversity indicates the need to broaden the genetic base of cultivated watermelon. HortScience. 36(6): 1096-1101.
Mayo O. 1980. The theory of plant breeding, Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
Olfati JA, Samizadeh H, Peyvast Gh, Rabiei B, Khodaparst SA. 2011. Relationship between genetic distance and heterosis in cucumber. Int J Plant Breed. 6(1): 14-20.
Olfati JA, Samizadeh H, Rabiei B. 2012. Griffing's methods comparison for general and specific combining ability in cucumber. Sci World J. 2(4): 1-4.
Olfati JA, Peyvast Gh, Samizadeh Lahiji H, Rabie B, Khodaparast SA. 2013. General and specific combining ability and heterosis estimation of some cucumber lines for qualitative traits in partial diallel design. J Hortic Sci. 26(4): 350-357.
Poole CF, Grimball PC, Porter DR. 1941. Inheritance of seed characters in watermelon. J Agron Res. 63: 433-456.
Rakesh K. 2011. Inheritance of fruit yield and other horticulturally important traits in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus  (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai]. HortScience. 182(2): 141-144.
Sapovadiya MH, Dhaduk HL, Mehta DR, Patel NB. 2013. Heterosis in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Mansf.]. Progress Res. 8(2): 217-220.
Sprague GF. Tatum LA. 1942. General vs specific combining ability in single crosses of corn. ‎Agronom J. 34: 923-932.
Tanaka T, Wimol S, Mizutani T. 1995. Inheritance of fruit shape and seed size of watermelon. J Japan Soc Hort Sci. 64(3): 543-548.
Wehner TC. 2012. Gene list for watermelon 2012. Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative. Vegetable Research: Charleston, SC, USA. Available online at:
https://www.ars.usda.gov/southeast-area/charleston-sc/vegetable-research/docs/cgc/gene-list-for-watermelon-2012/#:~:text=The%20genes%20(s)%20and%20(,(1995).
Journal of Plant Physiology and Breeding
Volume 13, Issue 2
December 2023
Pages 161-168

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics