Fruit flesh thickness analysis in local cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) genotypes through morphological and marker-based assay

Abstract

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one of the commercially important and widely cultivated cucurbitaceous vegetable grown throughout the world. The immature fruits are consumed as salad or pickled. The present study involved 22 local cucumber genotypes collected from different places of Karnataka, India. Cucumber flesh thickness is an important trait for cucumber fruit quality and a central determinant of yield. Among the evaluated genotypes, the fruit flesh thickness (1.92 cm), fruit diameter (6.87 cm) and yield per plant (3.05 kg) were higher in genotype (CSSL) collected from Shiralakoppa (Shivamogga) region. The higher fruit length (31.48 cm) and lower fruit flesh thickness (0.84 cm) was recorded in genotype (VLD) collected from Dharwad. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences for all the traits. Higher GCV, PCV and high heritability coupled with high GAM were recorded for fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit flesh thickness, seed cavity width and yield per plant. The fruit flesh thickness in 22 local cucumber genotypes was analysed using candidate gene (Csa2M058670.1) markers. Among 13 SSR primers, SSR23420 and SSR10849 have shown higher PIC (0.37) and higher gene diversity (0.50). The cucumber genotypes such as CSSL, CSWL, CSHLC-1 and CSHL were found to be promising for fruit quality traits such as fruit length, diameter, flesh thickness and yield.