Seed Characterization and Relationships between Seed and Cotyledon Properties in Lagenaria spp. Accessions

Bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.] is widely produced in some Asian and African countries as a fresh vegetable as well as for seed consumption. A major use of bottle gourd is for rootstocks in grafted watermelon production. There are several centers where bottle gourd genetic resources are maintained, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) germplasm collection being one of the most important. There is little published information on the relationship between seed morphology and the early establishment of seedlings in bottle gourd. The objective of this study was to determine seed characterization, morphology, and cotyledon shape in 163 Lagenaria spp. accessions and measure any relationship between seed and cotyledon characteristics. In USDA Lagenaria germplasm, it has been determined that the common character in seeds was medium in terms of seed size (53% of accessions), intermediate in seed surface lustre (39% of accessions), brown in seedcoat color (89% of accessions), thin and uniform in seed margin (35% of accessions), and tan in seed margin color (64% of accessions). According to the research results, seed weight ranged from 0.11 g (PI 500820) to 0.36 g (PI 675112), seed length from 13.17 mm (PI 500820) to 23.68 mm (PI 675112), and seed width from 5.86 (PI 500808) to 11.21 mm (PI 491274). Cotyledon length ranged from 5.46 cm (PI 368640) to 2.47 cm (PI 381850). The widest cotyledon was 3.00 cm (PI 534552), and the narrowest was 1.50 cm (PI 381831). Interesting correlations were observed for seed weight with seed length (R-2 = 0.259), and cotyledon length with cotyledon width (R-2 = 0.547).