Female flowering lines as the basis for new highly productive F1 zucchini hybrids

Relevance. The modern marrow seed market shows the prospect of creating F1 hybrids that have the maximum return on a high-quality crop. For their successful selection, parental forms with a complex of economically valuable traits and a high combinational ability are required. The most important role is played by the female zucchini maternal lines of flowering type, which allow for hybrid seed production with free pollination and obtain high quality F1 hybrid seeds. Materials and methods. The studies were carried out at of the Krymsk EBS VIR Branch (Russia, Krasnodar Region, Krymsk) in 2019-2021. Variety testing of lines and hybrids was carried out in the open field in the fields of selective crop rotation. The plot area was 5 m2, the experiment was repeated three times. Results. The general combinative ability of parental squash lines was studied, maternal forms with a positive GCA effect on early yield (F5 409-1, F5 409-2) and on total yield (F5 409-1) were identified. A preliminary variety testing of hybrid combinations was carried out in comparison with the standards F1 Belogor and F1 Pascal. The main economically valuable traits have been studied: early maturity, early and general yield, marketability, product attractiveness. F1 hybrids of zucchini were identified, obtained on the basis of maternal forms of the female type of flowering F5 409-1, F5 409-2 in terms of yield (early above 17,7 t/ha and total above 46,7 t/ha), and marketability, more than 83,2%. Conclusions. The high productivity of F1 zucchini hybrids obtained on the basis of maternal forms of the female flowering type F5 409-1, F5 409-2 proves the promising nature of their use in breeding. As a result of two years of study, a hybrid F1 (409-1x305) was isolated, with a complex of economically valuable traits: early yield 19,6 t/ha, total yield 52,6 t/ha, marketability 84,3%, attractive appearance of fruits.