Citrullus sexual abnomalities

[Dominic J]

Looking at the cuke website, a number of varieties are reported to have sexual abnormalities, but looking them up, I can't find any of their seeds on private seed sellers' websites or the USDA'S GRIN.

I'm talking about traits like male sterility, andromonoecy, gynomonoecy, stuff like that. Does anyone have any ideas where I may find alleles like that?

[Lauren]

Maybe won't help, but a few years ago I had several watermelon (proto-landrace) develop with male, female, and perfect flowers. I eventually decided that it was because of stress, since it didn't show up until later in the season and it was only the plants in the "dry" area where they didn't get watered.

[Dominic J]

That's quite possible. In hops, it's well known that stress can induce female plants to yield unfertile male flowers.

[Dominic J]

I've come across some articles saying that male sterility was used by many breeders to produce hybrids, in watermelons among other crops.

Would anyone know any such hybrid on the market that uses male sterility?

[Lauren]

Tomatoes, onions, potatoes. Not sure about specific varieties, but it makes predictable hybridizing much simpler so it's apparently an industry standard.

[Dominic J]

Tomatoes, onions, potatoes. Not sure about specific varieties, but it makes predictable hybridizing much simpler so it's apparently an industry standard.

Yea, I have a general idea of which species it is reported to have been used in, but I can't find any mention of specific commercial cultivars. All the articles talk about coded breeding lines.

I would like to get the male sterility alleles for my own hybrid breeding projects, but I have no clue where to look.

[Lauren]

I found a list some time back which included onion, and potato male sterile varieties (most) but I can't remember where I found it now. It is out there, though.

[Adrian]

Tetsukabuto (futsu kurokawa (moschata) x green delicious (maxima))is male sterile!
It is not a CMS but a interspecific crossbreeding very large.
He required a different male for his fecondation!
But her male sterility is normaly recessiv.

[Dominic J]

Tetsukabuto (futsu kurokawa (moschata) x green delicious (maxima))is male sterile!
It is not a CMS but a interspecific crossbreeding very large.
He required a different male for his fecondation!
But her male sterility is normaly recessiv.

Yea, to clarify I'm looking for CMS in commercial varieties for watermelon (or other crops that I breed with). I found one paper that talks about male sterility in tomato, onion, peppers, gourds, and a few others.

Commercial or genebank, really, either works. I'd just love for hybrid breeding to be more easily accessible to smaller scale breeders.