Per Se Performance of Pumkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch ex Poir) Hybrids for Yield and Quality

An investigation was conducted at Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai during 2016-2017 to study the per se performance of pumpkin hybrids evolved with diallel analysis with thirty hybrids were obtained through diallel mating design with six parents viz., P₁:Acc.No.MDU CM23-Thirumangalam local, Madurai district, P₂:Acc.No.MDU CM28-Oddanchatram local, Dindugul district, P₃:(Acc.No.MDU CM29-Harur local, Dharmapuri distict, P₄:Acc.No.MDU CM12, Department of Horticulture, AC and RI, Madurai, P₅:Acc. No.MDU CM1-Attur local, Salem district, P₆:Acc.No.MDU CM31-Rajapalayam local, Virudhunagar district for yield and quality traits in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch. ex. Poir). The per se performance of parents and hybrids showed that the parents P₁ (8.46), P₄ (9.36) and P₆ (4.55) were high yielding and bigger sized fruits. Among the thirty crosses, six cross combinations viz., P₁×P₃ (12.38), P₁×P₂ (11.79), P₁×P₅ (8.18), P₁×P₅ (11.66), P₁×P₆ (8.55) and P₄×P₁ (12.08) recorded higher values for yield per vine, fruit weight (6.13 to 10.15 kg), vine length (6.54 to 8.22) , higher sex ratio (17.05 to 24.06). The smaller sized fruits were obtained in five cross combinations viz., P₂×P₁(1.54), P₂×P₃(1.78), P₂×P₄ (1.79), P₂×P₅ (2.02) and P₂×P₆ (1.68) with the fruit size ranged from 1.54 to 1.79 kg.