Abstract
F1 hybrid plants are raised following crossing between cultivar I (male parent; tall, branched, light yellow flower, oblong conical fruit, round seeds) and cultivar II (female parent; dwarf, unbranched, yellow flower, ovoid spindle capsular fruit, reniform seeds) of Abelmoschus moschatus (L.) Medik (Family: Malvaceae; common name—musk mallow; yielding ambrette oil of commerce). Reciprocal crossings yield only small-sized fruits with dusty and abortive seeds. The F1 hybrid plants resemble the female parent for qualitative traits except the calyx color, while the quantitative traits mostly are either lower or intermediate to the parent. The hybrid shows 42.86% normal pairing of chromosomes (2n=72; 36 II formation) at metaphase I, which is rather less than either of the parents (82.86% and 86.11%). However, pollen fertility and viability (lugol's iodine and aniline blue) are comparable in the plant types. Molecular analyses following the use of RAPD (random amplification of polymorphic DNA) markers reveal distinctiveness between parents as well as authenticate trueness of the raised hybrid line. Based on different genetic efficiency parameters, the RAPD markers, namely, OPA 01, OPA 02, OPA 10, OPB 02, OPB 04, OPB 05, OPB 08, OPC 03 and OPC 10 are found to be efficient and effective and may be utilized for molecular screening of A. moschatus germplasms including hybrid(s).
