Mean performance parents and hybrids for yield and yield attributing characters in snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.) under Konkan agro-climatic conditions

Introduction

Snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.) is an underutilized tropical vegetable crop belonging to family cucurbitaceae with chromosome No 2n = 22. It is commonly known as Serpent gourd, Chichinda and popularly known as "Padwal" in Maharashtra. It is believed to have originated in the Indo-Malayan region. Snake gourd ia an annual, herbaceous, day neutral and climbing vegetable crop widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. It is the with regards to Konkan region of Maharashtra. It is commercially grown mainly during rainy season and to some extent during summer, where, sufficient water availability exists. The fruits are tasty and nutritious. The immature fruits are used as vegetable and are important as good source of minerals. Snake gourd is not just valued for its culinary versatility it also contributes to the nutritional quality of diets. The fruit is rich in carbohydrate, proteins, minerals and vitamins A, B, and C. The fruit content 0.5 g protein, 4.4g carbohydrate, 94.1 g water, 18 g calories and 50 g calcium (Devi et al., 2017) [1] . Snake gourd is one of the few vegetable crops capable of producing a high yield per unit area however; its average productivity remains relatively low. Although numerous local landraces are cultivated across the country no widely recommended high yielding cultivar is available. Limited efforts have been made to improve the productivity of this crop through systematic breeding programs. Therefore, significant improvement in yield can be achieved through varietal enhancement. The development of superior varieties requires the improvement of important yield contributing traits in snake gourd. Yield is a complex quantitative character influenced by several component traits that are comparatively simple in their inheritance and can be effectively utilized in selection and breeding programs. The primary criterion for evaluating a hybrid is its mean performance which reflects its overall productivity and agronomical potential.

The identification of superior parental lines with high yield potential and desirable yield contributing traits is essential for the development of productive hybrids. The main objective of a hybridization programme is to combine favourable genes from different parents into single genotype thereby enhancing the overall performance of the progeny. The resulting hybrids may be exploited directly as F 1 hybrids to utilize heterosis or advance to subsequent generations for the selection of superior recombinants. The success of a hybrid depends on its genetic constitutions as well as its phenotypic performance under different environmental conditions. Keeping these aspects in view the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the mean performance of parental lines and their hybrids for growth, flowering, and yield and yield related traits with the aim of identifying superior hybrids in snake gourd.

Materials and method

The present investigation was conducted in the college of Horticulture Dapoli during 2024. In this study, ten genotypes (4 lines and 6 testers) of snake gourd were study crossed in Line x Tester mating design. The analysis of variance for the ten parent and twenty four hybrids in randomized block design with two replications showed highly significant differences among the genotypes for yield and yield attributing characters studied. The seeds were sown at a spacing of 1 m x 2 m. The observations were recorded on five plants per replication. The observations were recorded for yield and yield attributing characters. The mean performance of selected ten parents and twenty four hybrids combinations derived through line x tester mating design for all yield and yield attributing traits.

Result and discussion

In any crop breeding programme it is important to eliminate undesirable genotypes by evaluating the mean performance of both parents and hybrids. Along with heterosis the per se performance of parents and hybrids should also be considered when selecting superior hybrid combinations. Parents exhibiting high mean performance are more likely to produce superior offspring and are therefore valuable in breeding programmes.

Flowering behaviour 1. Days to 1 st male flower Among the lines, L 3 recorded earliness (32.95 days) to days to 1 st male flowering followed by L 4 (33.27 days) while among the testers T 1 registered earliness (34.69 days) to days to 1 st male flowering followed by T 2 (34.92 days) and T 3 (35.25 days). In case of crosses, the cross L 3 X T 1 registered earliness (28.40 days) to 1 st male flowering which was at par with L 1 X T 3 (28.57 days), L 3 X T 3 (28.73 days), L 1 X T 1 (28.99 days), L 2 X T 1 (29.01 days), L 2 X T 3 (29.09 days), L 3 X T 2 (29.10 days), L 2 X T 2 (29.87 days), L 1 X T 2 (30.69 days), L 3 X T 4 (30.73 days), L 1 X T 6 (30.98 days), L 4 X T 2 (31.19 days), L 3 X T 5 (31.30 days), L 2 X T 5 (31.93 days) and L 3 X T 6 (32.70 days). The comparison of mean values between parents and crosses indicated the presence of hybrid vigour for this character as the hybrids recorded improved performance over the parents where might be due to expression of negative heterosis in the hybrids. Similar results were obtained by Triveni et al. (2020) [10] in ridge gourd, Sharma et al. (2025) [8] in sponge gourd and Srinivasulu et al. (2025) [9] in bitter gourd.

Days to 1 st female flower

Among the lines, Phule Vaibhav (L 3 ) (49.75 days) noted minimum days to 1 st female flower followed by Konkan Shweta (50.71 days). Among the testers, PLR-1 (51.60 days) recorded minimum days to 1 st female flower opening followed by DPL-SG-2 (53.28 days).

In case of crosses, the cross L 3 X T 1 exhibited earliness (41.56 days) to 1 st female flowering and was at par with L 1 X T 3 (42.08 days), L 1 X T (2020) [10] in ridge gourd, Sharma et al. (2025) in sponge gourd and Srinivasulu et al. (2025) [9] in bitter gourd.

Nodal position to 1 st male flower

The parental mean for node at which first male flower appeared in lines ranged from 3.88 (L 3 ) to 4.73 (L 1 ) whereas in testers, it ranged from 4.24 (T 3 ) to 5.51 (T 6 ) and among crosses, it was in the range of 3.17 (L 3 X T 1 ) to 4.61 (L 4 X T 6 ). Node to first male flower is directly related with earliness. Similar results for the lowest node number for 1 st male flower appearance was reported by Krishnamoorthy (2019) [3] in ridge gourd, Tullur et al. (2023) in bottle gourd, Kumar et al. (2024) [4] and Sharma et al. (2025) [8] in sponge gourd.

Nodal position to 1 st female flower

The node at which 1 st female flower appeared among various lines ranged from 8.53 (L 3 ) to 9.41(L 1 ) while in among testers, it ranged from 8.84 (T 3 ) to 9.98 (T 6 ). In various hybrids studied, it ranged from 6.01 (L 3 X T 1 ) to 8.97 (L 2 X T 4 ). Earliness of the female flowering node in hybrids compared to their parents might be due to heterosis. The accumulation of favourable dominant genes and complementary gene interactions that promote early flower initiation. Such genetic effects might lead to faster node development and earlier appearance of female flower in the hybrids. Similar results were obtained by Krishnamoorthy (2019) [3] in ridge gourd, Tullur et al. (2023) in bottle gourd and Sharma et al. (2025) [8] in sponge gourd.

The length of fruit among various parents ranged between 51.28 cm (T 2 ) to 117.46 cm (L 3 ) whereas, the length of fruit among different hybrids ranged from 52.90 cm (L 2 × T 2 ) to 124.40 cm (L 3 × T 3 ). The length of fruit is directly related to the size of fruit which affect the average fruit weight and therefore the yield.

The per se performance of crosses and parents, revealed that the crosses had higher as well as lower mean values in case of length of fruit than parents. This variation in fruit length might be due to differences in inheritance patterns. These results are more or less same similar with the finding recorded Devi et al. (2017) [1] in snake gourd, Krishnamoorthy (2019) [3] in ridge gourd, Reddy et al.

(2019) [6] in sponge gourd, Madhavi et al. (2021) [5] in ridge gourd and Islam et al. (2022) [2] in snake gourd.

Among the lines, the highest diameter of fruit was recorded in Manusree (48.02 mm) followed by L 4 (44.84 mm). Out of 6 testers, PLR-2 (67.11 mm) observed the highest diameter of fruit followed by PLR-1 (44.83 mm) while DPL-SG-3 (31.69 mm) recorded the lowest weight of fruit. Out of 24 hybrids, the cross combination L 2 × T 2 (55.86 mm) recorded significantly the highest diameter of fruit and was at par with L 3 × T 2 (53.83 mm), L 3 × T 1 (51.62 mm) and L 2 × T 1 (51.08 mm). This variation might be due to differences in genetic makeup and interaction of favourable and unfavourable alleles inherited from the parental lines. Similar findings were also reported by Devi et al. (2017) [1] in snake gourd and Islam et al. (2022) [2] in snake gourd.

Yield and yield attributing parameters 1. Weight of fruit (g) Among the lines, maximum weight of fruit was recorded in Phule Vaibhav (372.68 g) whereas Manusree (324.61 g) produced the lowest weight of fruit. Out of 6 testers, DPL-SG-2 (340.02 g) observed the highest weight of fruit followed by PLR-1 (338.21 g). Among 24 hybrids, the cross L 3 x T 1 recorded significantly the highest fruit weight (442.21 g) which was at par with L 1 x T 3 (422.83 g) while, cross L 2 x T 4 (335.04 g) had the lowest fruit weight among. The result coincides in with following studies Devi et al.

(2017) [1] in snake gourd, Krishnamoorthy (2019) [3] in ridge gourd, Reddy et al. (2019) [6] in sponge gourd, Madhavi et al. (2021) [5] in ridge gourd and Islam et al. (2022) [2] in snake gourd.

Number of fruit plant -1

Among the lines, L 4 (17.06) recorded maximum number of fruits per plant followed by PKM-1 (16.63) and L 3 (16.59).

In testers, DPL-SG-3 (17.06) exhibited maximum number fruits per plant followed by DPL-SG-4 (17.00) and DPL-SG-5 (16.68). Among the crosses, the cross L 1 X T 3 (21.12) exhibited maximum number of fruits per plant followed by L 3 X T 1 (21.02), L 4 X T 1 (20.19), L 1 X T 1 (19.94), L 2 X T 1 (19.75) and L 2 X T 3 (19.68). Based on per se performance of crosses and parents, it was observed that the several crosses recorded highest mean values for number of fruits per plant than parents might be due to the presence of hybrid vigour. Similar results were recorded by Devi et al. (2017) [1] in snake gourd, Madhavi et al. (2021) [5] in ridge gourd, Islam et al. (2022) [2] in snake gourd and Kumar et al. (2024) [4] in bottle gourd.

Among the lines, L 3 exhibited the highest yield per plant (6.37 kg) followed by L 4 (5.89 kg). Among the testers, T 3 registered the highest yield per plant (5.64 kg) followed by T 1 (5.62 kg) and T 2 (5.48 kg). Among the crosses, hybrid L 3 X T 1 (9.28 kg) recorded the highest yield per plant and was at par with L 1 X T 3 (8.82 kg), L 4 X T 1 (8.45 kg), L 1 X T 1 (8.24 kg) and L 3 X T 3 (7.85 kg). Among the 24 crosses L 4 X T 6 (5.54 kg) recorded the lowest yield per plant. The higher performance in certain crosses can be attributes to the expression of hybrid vigour and dominance effect whereas lower performance might be due to poor gene combinations or the segregation of less favourable genes. Parallel results were obtained by Devi et al. (2017) [1] in snake gourd, Krishnamoorthy (2019) [3] in ridge gourd, Reddy et al.

(2019) [6] in sponge gourd, Madhavi et al. (2021) [5] in ridge gourd, Islam et al. (2022) [2] in snake gourd and Kumar et al.

(2024) [4] in bottle gourd.

4. Yield hectare -1 (t) Among the lines, L 3 exhibited the highest yield per hectare (31.86 t) followed by L 4 (29.47 kg) whereas line L 2 (27.56 t) registered minimum yield per hectare. Among the testers, T 3 recorded maximum yield per hectare (28.20 t) followed by T 1 (28.12 t) and T 2 (27.42 t). Among the crosses, hybrid L 3 X T 1 (46.35 t) recorded the highest yield per hectare and was at par with L 1 X T 3 (44.54 t), L 4 X T 1 (42.39 t), L 1 X T 1 (41.12 t) and L 3 X T 3 (39.40 t) whereas, L 4 X T 6 (27.81 t) recorded the lowest yield per hectare. From per se performance of crosses and parents, it was observed that the crosses had higher as well as lower mean values in case of fruit yield per hectare than parents might be due to the presence of hybrid vigour, favorable gene interactions and improved yield contributing traits compared to their parents. Devi et al. (2017) [1] in snake gourd, Krishnamoorthy (2019) [3] in ridge gourd, Reddy et al. (2019) [6] in sponge gourd, Madhavi et al. (2021) [5] in ridge gourd, Islam et al. (2022) [2] in snake gourd, Tullur et al. (2023) in bottle gourd and Sharma et al. (2025) [8] in sponge gourd.

Conclusion

Among the parent, Phule Vaibhav (L 3 ), Konkan Shweta (L 4 ), PKM-1 (L 1 ), PLR-1 (T 1 ) and DPL-SG-2 (T 3 ) were found to be the most promising and good general combiner for most of the characters, which contributes to the yield. The cross combinations, Phule Vaibhav X PLR-1, PKM-1 X DPL SG-2, Konkan Shweta X PLR-1, PKM-1 X PLR-1 and Phule Vaibhav X DPL SG-2 exhibited significantly favourable mean performance for growth, flowering and yield and yield attributing characters of snake gourd.

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