Hermann Hippolyte Tro¹, Beket Séverin Bonny^1,, Kouamé Kévin Koffi¹, Irié Arsène Zoro Bi¹

Viviparity or early germination of seeds in fruits still attached to the parent plant is a factor in yield reduction and economic loss in agriculture. Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. is a plant of nutritional, medicinal and agronomic importance facing a decrease in production due to viviparity. The objective of this work was to study the genetic determinism of viviparity in L. siceraria. Eight accessions (4 viviparous and 4 non-viviparous) resulting from a screening of 100 accessions of two cultivars (Calabash and Egussi) of L. siceraria were used in direct and reciprocal crosses. Self-fertilisation of F1 progeny resulted in F2 progeny. Four field experiments in six cycles yielded the different individuals of each generation used in this study. Results indicated that accessions of the gourd cultivar were non-viviparous. The majority (96.67%) of accessions of the cultivar Egussi were viviparous and were present in all agro-ecological collection areas. F1 plants from direct and reciprocal crosses were all non-viviparous. Self-fertilization of F1 plants led to F2 progeny in 3:1 segregation (3 for non-viviparous and 1 for viviparous). The non-viviparous phenotype appeared dominant over the viviparous phenotype. Seed viviparity is controlled by a gene, with an allele pair (V/v). Plants with non-viviparous fruits can be, VV or Vv. Plants with viviparous fruits are vv.

viviparous, non-viviparous, Lagenaria siceraria, self-fertilisation, allele, gene