“…In our study, additive effects (GCA) were found to be relatively more important than nonadditive effects (SCA) for female expression and yield . This agreed with results obtained in agronomic crops, e .g ., Zea mays (SPRAGUE & TATUM, 1942 ;WRIGHT et al ., 1971) and Medicago sativa (CARNAHAN et al ., 1960) ; and in horticultural crops, e .g ., Lycopersicon esculentum (CURRENCE et al ., 1944 ;IBARIA et al ., 1969 ;PUNZALAN & LAMBETH, 1970), Cucumis melo (LIPPERT & LEGG, 1972a ;1972b), Cucumis sativus (SMITH et al ., 1978), Brassica oleracea (JOHNSTON, 1968) ; and Pisum sativum (KRAUP & DAVIS, 1970) in the situation where inbred parental lines had not been previously subjected to selection for GCA . However, EL-SHAWAF & BAKER (in press) found that pickling cucumber lines previously selected for yield displayed lower SCA than GCA for yield, probably due to inadequate selection pressure or limited genetic diversity in the parental population .…”