Recurrent Selection and Selfing with Selection as a Tools for Improvement of Sweet melon (Cucumis melo var. aegyptiacus)

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

THE PRESENT investigation was carried out during three ……..successive summer seasons of 2012, 2013 & 2014, in order to study the efficiency of one cycle of simple recurrent selection and selfing with selection for two generations as two breeding methods on some important characters of sweet melon. Coefficient of variation (C.V%) for the characters, main stem length, leaves number/plant, branches number/plant, fruit weight, fruit polar diameter, fruit equatorial diameter, fruit number plant-1, fruit flesh thickness, and total soluble solids, were estimated. In a relatively large population of  cultivar "Kahera-6" of sweet melon reflected, generally, enough variability for the purposes of selection and improvement. Generally, the results indicated that all the studied characters were improved through the two practiced breeding methods, simple recurrent selection and selfing with selection, but with different magnitudes among the characters and the used breeding methods. Variability magnitudes within the studied characters were declined as a result of practicing the two breeding systems, but with more severe reduction in the second selfed progenies, relative to the simple recurrent selection population. The estimated values of the correlation coefficients among the various pairs of the studied characters illustrated generally that twenty two out of the possible thirty six relationships appeared to be significant and desirable for the objectives of selection in the present study.

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