Vol. 12, Issue 7 (2023)

The present investigation was carried out at Vegetable Experimental Field, Division of Vegetable Science, SKUAST-Kashmir Shalimar during kharif 2021-22. The twelve parents of muskmelon along with their sixty-six crosses were evaluated for maturity, yield attributing and quality traits for identifying genotypes with high yielding ability and better quality. The result revealed that significant variations were found among the genotypes for the traits studied. The maximum performance for yield per plant and per hectare was observed in parent SKAU-MM-701(4.73 kg/plant, 210.20 q/ha) followed by SKAU-MM-705 (4.64 kg/plant, 206.20 q/ha) and SKAU-MM-711 (4.46 kg/plant, 198.35 q/ha). Similarly maximum yield in crosses was observed in SKAU-MM -701 × SKAU-MM-702 (5.35 kg /plant, 237.90 q/ha) followed by SKAU-MM-701 × SKAU-MM-712 (5.31 kg/plant, 235.97 q/ha) and SKAU-MM -701 × SKAU-MM-708 (5.28 kg/plant, 234.78 q/ha). For quality traits maximum TSS content was observed in parents SKAU-MM -706 (10.5˚B) followed by SKAU-MM -701 (9.4˚B) and in crosses (SKAU-MM -701 × SKAU-MM-702 (12.2˚B) followed by SKAU-MM-702 × SKAU-MM-706 (11.9˚B). Thus overall evaluation of muskmelon parents and crosses showed that significant variation was present thereby indicating scope of improvement of this material through various breeding methods.