Yield improvement through female homosexual hybrids and sex genetics of sweet gourd (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng.)

The present research aimed to evaluate the effect of silver nitrate (AgNO3) on sex modification in sweet gourd (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng.), and to explore the possibility of sexual crossing between two genetically female plants. Spray applications of AgNO3 on 30 days’ old female plants induced hermaphrodite flowers. Male plants were insensitive to the AgNO3 sprays. Application of 500 mg/l AgNO3 on female plants produced the maximum proportion of induced hermaphrodite flowers. Hermaphrodite flowers appeared 17–21 days after AgNO3 spray and continued up to 8–17 days, depending upon the concentration of AgNO3. Pollen grain viability of induced hermaphrodite flowers (93.5%) was similar to pollen grain viability of normal male (95.0%) flowers. Because of higher fruit weight, progenies from female homosexual cross recorded higher yield. The hybrids from such crosses produced only female plants while the hybrids between female and normal male segregated into male and female in an equal proportion, indicating that sex in sweet gourd is controlled by a single factor, male being heterozygous and female being homozygous recessive. Through this technique, elite characters of female genotypes could be combined into a single plant