Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 18:37-37 (article 17) 1995
M. LeCouviour, M. Pitrat, C. Olivier and M. Ricard
Clause Semences Professionnelles, Mas Saint Pierre, 13210 Saint Remy (France); INRA, Station d’ Amelioration des Plantes Maraicheres, B.P. 94, 84143 Montfavet cedex (France)
In a breeding program in ‘Galia’ type melon (Cucumis melo L.), a spontaneous mutant has been observed. Leaf margins are curled upward, giving more or less a spoon shape. This character can be observed more clearly in the summer with high temperature than during the other periods of the year. It is not very clear on the first or second leaf and plants can be scored quite clearly at the 3rd leaf stage.
The F1 hybrid with a standard melon line has a normal phenotype (no curled leaves) and in the F2 progeny the observed segregation can be explained by the action of one recessive gene: 266 plants with normal leaves and89 with spoon-shaped leaves (c – .00009, Prob = 98%).
A mutant with curled leaf (symbol cl) has been described (Cox, 1985). Plants with cl mutation are usually male and female sterile. We have not been able to obtain seeds of this mutant and the allelism test has not been done but as the male and female fertilities of the two mutants are different. We propose the name cochleare folium (symbol cf) from the latin cochlearis = spoon-shaped and folium = leaf.
Literature Cited:
- Cox, E.L. 1985. Three new seedling marker mutants in Cucumis melo. HortScience 20:657 (Abstr.)