Inheritance of fruit neck, rind and seed coat hardness, and seed coat colour in bottle gourd

Abstract

Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.) is an edible, medicinal and decorative plant exhibiting wide genetic variation for fruit and seed characters, but it remains under-researched. This study assessed inheritance of fruit neck, fruit rind hardness, seed coat hardness and seed coat colour in bottle gourd, by crossing the egusi type with the calabash type. Results indicated that fruit neck is controlled by two genes, each with two alleles (N/n and R/r), with complementary gene action. Neckless fruit plants could be nnR−, N−rr or nnrr. A pair of alleles control each of fruit rind hardness (H_f /h_f), seed coat hardness (H_s /h_s) and seed coat colour (Y/y). Complete dominance of hard over soft was observed for fruit rind and seed coat hardness, whereas codominance of dark brown and yellow was observed for seed coat colour. These findings can hasten the efficiency of breeding and development of improved cultivars in L. siceraria.