Parthenocarpic Cucumber Cultivar Evaluation in High-tunnel Production

Abstract

<jats:p>Fresh-consumed parthenocarpic cucumbers (<jats:italic>Cucumis sativus</jats:italic>) are a popular and high-value crop sold in local food markets. The parthenocarpic plant characteristics and climbing growth habit make cucumbers an ideal crop for high-tunnel production. Major types of parthenocarpic cucumbers include Beit alpha and mini, Dutch greenhouse, American slicer, and Japanese. Information regarding yield performance, plant growth, and disease resistance of the four types grown in high-tunnel conditions is limited. In this study, 16 parthenocarpic cucumber cultivars from the four major types were evaluated in high tunnels at three locations in Indiana and Illinois during Spring 2018. Plants were pruned to a single stem that was supported on a string. At all locations, the cultivars that had the most total yields were Beit alpha and mini, although their total yields were not always significantly higher than that of all the others. However, Beit alpha and mini cucumbers had high percentages of unmarketable fruit, mainly because of insect feeding damage and mechanical injuries on the skins that led to scarred fruit. Dutch greenhouse cultivars had relatively lower marketable yields at two of the three locations where there was a high percentage of misshaped fruit. ‘Tasty Green’ Japanese cucumber consistently had the lowest yields at all three locations. This cultivar also produced the most side shoot growth and, therefore, more pruning waste. The Japanese types ‘Tasty Jade’ and ‘Taurus’ had yields comparable to those of other cultivars, and they were more tolerant to two-spotted spider mites (<jats:italic>Tetranychus urticae</jats:italic>). However, ‘Tasty Jade’ was the cultivar most susceptible to powdery mildew (<jats:italic>Podosphaera xanthii</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Golovinomyces cichoracearum</jats:italic>). ‘Corinto’ American slicer cucumber had relatively high yields at two of the three locations. This cultivar also had the highest percentage of marketable fruit. Information provided in the study is readily useful for growers using high tunnels when selecting parthenocarpic cucumber cultivars. It is also valuable for seed companies wishing to breed new cultivars adaptive for high-tunnel production.</jats:p>

A Flashforward Look into Solutions for Fruit and Vegetable Production

“…Specifically, the ideal fruit crop for future indoor agricultural endeavors should include characteristics such as a rapid life cycle to improve productivity per year, a short stature to fit in space-limited growing areas, an efficient nutrition system to lower chemical inputs, and an optimized flowering and fruit set to ensure a high fruit yield. As an example, some parthenocarpic cucumber varieties already have a high yield of marketable fruits and low side-shoot growing, which reduces plant width and the need for pruning (e.g., Corinto [ 213 ]). Cucumbers also have a naturally short life cycle of about 50 to 90 days [ 226 ].…”

“…Additionally, parthenocarpic tomatoes have even been shown to enhance fruit set rates under extreme temperatures. However, issues such as fruit malformation [ 212 , 213 ] or reduction of fruit size and weight [ 214 , 215 ] have been also reported and should be addressed in future works. The use of parthenocarpic crops, which do not require chemicals, would greatly benefit both outdoor and indoor agriculture.…”

Application of Two Levels of Calcium Nitrate on Sap Nutrients, Growth and Yield of Persian Cucumber

“…Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a highly demanded vegetable for human consumption due to its rich source of potassium, calcium, and vitamin A (Manjunatha and Anurag, 2014). Cucumbers are usually classified according to the size of the fruit, so there are long, medium, and short cucumbers (Guan et al, 2019). The Persian cucumber, also called mini cucumber or Beit alpha is a short cucumber.…”

Requerimiento nutrimental y nutrición potásica en pepino Persa con poda a un solo tallo

“…Se pueden producir en condiciones de invernadero sin necesidad de incorporación de abejorros, soportan temperaturas extremas entre 35 y 40 o C; de igual manera, una temperatura mínima de 15 ºC, no afectan su rendimiento (Rizo, 2010;Shaw et al, 2000). En un estudio de variedades de pepino partenocárpicos en diferentes localidades y en condiciones de macrotúnel, Guang et al (2019), reportaron que las variedades de pepino Persa fueron más productivas en comparación al pepino Holandés, Americano tipo slicer y Japonés.…”