Inheritance of warty fruit texture and fruit color in bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (molina) standl.]

Abstract

Bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.] is one of the most interesting species in the plant kingdom, due to the diversity of fruit shapes, sizes and ways of use. Warty genotypes are rare compared to non warty genotypes. Considering unusual external appearance of warty fruits, we focused our research on the investigation of its inheritance patterns. By crossing different bottle gourd phenotypes, we studied the mode of inheritance and identified and verified genes responsible for the fruit skin color and warty phenotype segregation. Two parental lines, LAG 70 (with warty fruit of light green color) and LAG 71 (smooth fruit, variegated), F1, F2 and backcrosses populations along with both parents were evaluated. Genetic analysis indicated that warty fruit type is a result of monogenic inheritance, whereby the warty fruit type is dominant (Wt) trait over to the non-warty fruit type (wt). The mode of inheritance of fruit color was controlled by recessive epistasis, with a ratio of 9 variegated (A-, B-), 3 dark green colored (aaB-) and 4 light green colored (aabb) fruits in the F2 generation.