Identification and possibility of monoecious inbred of muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) for heterosis breeding

Abstract

Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is an economically important cucurbitaceous vegetable crop cultivated throughout the warmer parts of world and consumed as ‘dessert’. It belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and grown as a ‘Dessert Crop’. Being a cross pollinated crop, it shows heterosis for earliness, fruit size, fruit weight, flesh thickness, total soluble solids, fruit flavour, transportability and fruit yield. Presently the main emphasis is given on the development of F1 hybrids of muskmelon due to high yield, uniform fruit shape, size as well as consistently excellent quality. Muskmelon is predominantly andromonoecious in sex expression however, monoecious sex form is also found in natural populations (Foster 1968 and More et al. 1980).