Abstract
Gynoecious inbred lines of balsam pear plants (Momordica charantia L.) were improved from cv. Aochu-naga. The plants with a large percentage of female flowers (high-female type) were chosen from the breeding material line (LCJ980120), then the generations of these plants were advanced by crossing in the same pedigree or self pollination. In the second and the third generations, bisexual flowers were induced with foliar application of silver nitrate solution to obtain pollen for crossing. In the third generation, 27 gynoecious plants were found on 51 plants of 4 pedigrees. Plants with desirable fruit quality were selected from these gynoecious plants and 4 pedigrees were obtained by crossing in the same pedigree. These 4 pedigrees did not show monoecism, but all of the plants were gynoecious. As the gynoecious sex expression was partially dominant in hybrid plants between the gynoecious pedigree and the monoecious line (KBP1), it is suggested that gynoecious inbred lines are promising seed parents for high-female F1 hybrids.
