SCREENING OF NEW PROMISING HYBRID COMBINATIONS OF COMMON WATERMELON IN TERMS OF YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS

Breeding work has been carried out to create new hybrid combinations of watermelon. The use of methods such as hybridisation, self-pollination (inbreeding) and individual selection in the selection process of their parental forms made it possible not only to identify and consolidate valuable traits, but also to obtain new parental components characterised by a high level of expression and the presence of marker genes that control the expression of morphological traits important for heterotic selection of watermelon. As a result of heterotic selection, 95 hybrid combinations of F1 common watermelon were created. As a result of the research, they were evaluated for a set of economically valuable traits – yield, marketability, and average weight of marketable fruit in comparison with the standard hybrid Kazka F1. Based on the results of the evaluation, 21 F1 hybrid combinations were selected in 2023–2025, and 27 valuable F1 hybrid combinations in 2024–2025, which indicates a high level of genetic variability and the effectiveness of the breeding approach used. This proportion of promising hybrid material is consistent with current ideas about the advisability of a comprehensive assessment of heterotic combinations in watermelon breeding. When evaluating the selected F1 hybrid combinations based on a set of indicators, eight F1 hybrid combinations were selected: Uslad / Garna, Rada / Skarbnytsia, Rada / Zoria, Skarbnytsia / Zoria, Skarbnytsia / Ket Br-19, Zorya / Matthew, Zorya / Skarbnytsia, Ket Br-19 / Matthew, for study during 2023-2025, and 4 F1 hybrid combinations: Sich / Skarbnytsia, Ha48-19 / Shar, Skarbnytsia / Lipa, Rada / Lipa, for their study during 2024-2025, which significantly exceeded the standard in terms of yield, marketability and average weight of marketable fruit. The 12 F1 hybrid combinations selected based on a set of indicators can be recommended for further competitive trials, environmental testing and production testing to assess the stability of economically valuable traits in different soil and climatic conditions. In addition, the research results can be used to optimise the breeding process by reducing the time required to create new hybrids, increasing the efficiency of selection and reducing the risks of introducing unpromising material into production.