Heterosis and inbreeding depression for fruit characters in cucumber

Fifteen parental lines and their 36 hybrids were evaluated for heterosis and inbreeding depression of fruit characters, viz. fruit length, weight per fruit, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield per plant. The positive heterosis desirable for length of fruit, weight per fruit, number of fruits per plant and fruit yield per plant was common in most of the crosses. Most of the crosses showed positive and significant heterosis over standard variety and better parent. The cross combination BSC-1 × BSC-2, BSC-1 × CHC-1, VRC-11-2 × CC-5 and CC-7 × CHC-1 showed highly positive and significant heterosis over standard variety and better parent and can be utilized in heterosis breeding programme for the improvement of yield in cucumber. In general, crosses showed significant heterosis in F₁ and also revealed inbreeding depression in F₂ population.