Little heterosis for yield and yield components in hybrids of six cucumber inbreds.pdf

Euphytica 110: 99–108, 1999. ? 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 99 Little heterosis for yield and yield components in hybrids of six cucumber inbreds Christopher S. Cramer Todd C. Wehner Department of Horticultural Science, Box 7609, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7609, U.S.A. Received 20 March 1998; accepted 5 May 1999 Key words: combining ability, correlation, Cucurbitaceae, Cucumis sativus, earliness, fruit shape, inbreeding depression, quantitative genetics Summary Heterosis and inbreeding depression for fruit yield has been reported for pickling cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). However, cucumber inbreds often perform as well as hybrids, and there is little inbreeding depression. The objectives of this study were to reexamine the amount of heterosis and inbreeding depression for fruit yield and yield components in pickling cucumber, and to determine the relationship between yield components and yield for heterosis. Two pickling cucumber inbreds (M 12, M 20) and inbreds from four open-pollinated monoecious cultivars (‘Addis’, ‘Clinton’, ‘Wisconsin SMR 18’, ‘Tiny Dill’) were hybridized to form four F1 hybrids (‘Addis’ ×M 20, ‘Addis’ × ‘Wis. SMR 18’, ‘Clinton’ × M 12, M 20 × ‘Tiny Dill’). F1 hybrids were then self-pollinated or backcrossed to generate F2, BC1A, and BC1B progeny. Thirty plants of each generation within each hybrid family were grown in plots 3.1 m long with four replications in each of two seasons. Data were collected from once-over harvest for vegetative, reproductive, yield, and fruit quality traits. Heterosis and inbreeding depression for fruit yield and yield components were not observed in three of the hybrids. Only ‘Addis’ × ‘Wis. SMR 18’ exhibited high-parent heterosis and inbreeding depression for total, marketable, and early fruit weight. For ‘Addis’ × ‘Wis. SMR 18’, heterosis for fruit yield was associated with a decreased correlation between percentage of fruit set and fruit weight, an increas