Vol. 7, Issue 12, Part E (2025)

The study aimed to assess mean performance and heterosis levels for fruit yield and its component traits in cucumber. Seven parental genotypes were crossed in a half-diallel mating design to generate 21 F₁ hybrids, evaluated using a randomized block design. Seeds of the hybrids were produced during summer 2022 at the Potato Research Station, SDAU, Deesa. Significant variability among genotypes was observed for all traits. Parent ACUS-19-14 and the hybrid ACUS-19-14 × ACUS-19-19 showed the highest fruit yield per plant. Wide ranges of heterobeltiosis (-36.14% to 49.89%) and standard heterosis (-32.24% to 59.06%) were recorded for yield, with ACUS-19-14 × ACUS-19-19 exhibiting maximum positive heterosis, followed by ACUS-19-14 × ACUS-20-04 and ACUS-19-18 × ACUS-19-16. Key contributing traits included number of branches, fruit size, average fruit weight, and fruit number. Overall, the hybrids ACUS-19-14 × ACUS- 19-19 and ACUS-19-14 × ACUS-20-04 were identified as the most promising for improving fruit yield in cucumber.