Department of Vegetable Crops. Landscaping and Floriculture, Punjab Agricultural University. Ludhiana, 141 004
Combining ability studies were conducted on watermelon at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to isolate desirable cross combinations for yield and maturity characters. Both additive and non-additive type of gene effects were observed to be operative for various characters. Shipper was a good combiner for yield and fruit weight and Sugar Baby for days to maturity and fruit number per plant. Among the males H-23, Durgapur Meeth, Asahi Yamato and Black Diamond were good combiners The mean performance of pollinators reflected their g.c.a. for maturity and fruit number. Both per se performance of hybrids and respective s.ca. effects should be considered for evaluating the superiority of a cross. Some good crosses have been suggested for further exploitation.
