Comparative Evaluation of Traditional Grow-Out Test and Molecular Finger-Printing for Testing of Hybrid Purity in Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata L.)

The primary method for hybrid purity analysis is to use morphological distinctions between true to types and off types in grow out tests (GOTs). Traditional GOT was costly, time consuming, and environmentally sensitive. Recent developments in DNA markers show promise for speeding up and improving the accuracy of hybrid genetic purity testing. The purity of pumpkin hybrid PPH1 was evaluated in this study using both standard GOT and sophisticated molecular marker techniques. The experiment involved mixing 95% F₁ hybrids with 5% female parents in individual sample sets of 300, 200, 100, 50, and 25. To ensure hybrid purity, a PCR based assay and GOT were performed on each sample size. The PCR based technique examined 37 pairs of SSR markers, two of which showed parental polymorphism. The level of purity had assessed using co-dominant marker. The smaller sample size of 100 had been analysed to validate hybrid purity, and results were consistent with those of larger sample sizes (300, 200). As a result, it was claimed that molecular marker-based hybrid purity evaluation could be a viable alternative to classical GOT.