Evaluation of Ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb L.) Hybrid (F1), Genotypes and Backcrosses for Various Horticultural Characters

F₁ was evaluated with Deepthi, Haritham, Satputia, CO2, IC-92672 and IC-92685 accessions to test horticultural characters. Genotypes and F₁ (MS × Arka Sumeet) differed significantly with respect to all fruit characters, viz average fruit length, average fruit weight and fruit girth. Arka Sumeet produced fruits with maximum length and fruit weight (43.6 cm and 0.243 g, respectively). Cultivar Deepthi recorded maximum fruit girth (15.5 cm). Accession IC-92684 produced highest number of fruit (32.2) while the F₁ hybrid recorded highest yield per plant (6.4 kg/plant). Genotypes, backcrosses and three way crosses differed significantly with respect to average fruit length, number of harvests, number of fruits per plant and yield per plant. The genotype Arka Sumeet produced longest fruit (44.33 cm) while the accession IC-92685 produced maximum number of fruits per plant (52.66). The three way cross (MS × IC-92671) × Arka Sumeet exhibited highest yield per plant (7.79 kg/plant). Though the main objective of developing three way crosses involving male sterile hybrids and Arka Sumeet was to test the fertility restorer character of later, high yielding crosses such as (MS × IC-92671) × Arka Sumeet can be exploited for extraction of breeding lines.