Abstract:

Sixteen inbred lines of Chinese pumpkins and 120 hybrid combinations which cross by the 16 inbred lines in Griffing Ⅳ were used to study combining ability of β-carotene content to understand the β-carotene content combing ability characteristics of different pumpkin inbred lines. The results showed that β-carotene content general combining ability (GCA) of Buan10 (from Shanghai) was the highest in the 16 inbred lines of Chinese pumpkins. The ‘Baiquan 2’ (from Beijing) had the lowest β-carotene content GCA. The β-carotene content special combining ability (SCA) of ‘Baiquan9’ (from Henan) × ‘Baiquan10’ (from Shanghai) was the highest in the 120 hybrid combinations. Secondly is ‘Baiquan7’ (from Henan) × ‘Baiquan15’ (from Beijing), ‘Baiquan4’ (from Heilongjiang) × ‘Baiquan 12’ (from Hainan). ‘Baiquan 1’ (from Hunan) × ‘Baiquan11’ had the lowest β-carotene content SCA. Difference of GCA was obvious for different sources of pumpkin inbred lines. The differences of geographical origin were more obvious, the SCA of two pumpkin inbred lines was often high.