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- Author or Editor: Todd C. Wehner x
Fruit weight in the cultivated watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai var. lanatus] ranges from 1 kg to over 100 kg. In recent years, preference of consumers has shifted toward fruit of smaller sizes than the large sizes traditionally used for parties and picnics. This has produced increased interest in the genetics of fruit weight, especially among watermelon breeders. The objectives of this study were to determine the inheritance of fruit weight. Six adapted cultivars having very large or very small fruit weight were crossed in a half diallel. Field trials were conducted at two locations in North Carolina (Clinton and Kinston). Large-fruited parents had higher phenotypic variance than small-fruited parents. Environmental variance was higher than genetic variance (mean, 7.58 and 3.82, respectively) at Kinston, NC. At Clinton, NC, genetic and environmental variances were similar (mean, 9.45 and 8.99, respectively) for 67% of the families. Narrow- and broad-sense heritability estimates were low to intermediate (mean, 0.59 and 0.41, respectively). A high number of effective factors (mean, 5.4) was found to influence fruit weight in watermelon. Watermelon breeders should use quantitative methods such as recurrent selection for population improvement to change fruit weight in the development of new cultivars.
Monoecious cucumber (Cucumis sativus) plants generally produce enough pollen for fruit set. The amount of pollen required for fruit set depends on the number of pistillate flowers produced by the cultivar. ‘NC-Sunshine’ is a new monoecious slicing hybrid cucumber with a high percentage of pistillate nodes. Because of the high percentage of pistillate nodes, a pollenizer might be required to maximize pollination to get high total and early yield. Hence, an experiment was conducted at three locations to evaluate the effect of the pollenizer ‘Poinsett 76’ on yield of ‘NC-Sunshine’ compared with no pollenizer ‘Gray Zucchini’ squash (Cucurbita pepo). Differences (P ≥ 0.05) due to pollenizer, location, and the interaction of pollenizer and location on ‘NC-Sunshine’ yield traits were detected. Pollenizer influenced cucumber yield at two of three locations. Results indicated that the pollenizer ‘Poinsett 76’ significantly increased total, marketable, and early yield of ‘NC-Sunshine’. The percentage of early and marketable yield was also higher with the pollenizer ‘Poinsett 76’. In addition, the use of a pollenizer decreased cull yield. Therefore, a pollenizer is needed for monoecious hybrids having a high percentage of pistillate nodes.
Genes for watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsumura & Nakai] fruit traits have been identified since the 1930s. We conducted a study of fruit traits including fruit stripe width, stripe color, rind color, fruit shape, and blossom end shape (concave vs. convex). Ten watermelon cultivars (inbred lines) were used as parents. Several new genes or alleles were discovered. A series of alleles at the g locus is proposed to explain the inheritance of fruit rind pattern: G (medium or dark solid green), g W (wide stripe), g M (medium stripe), g N (narrow stripe), and g (solid light green or gray). The dominance series is G > g W > g M > g N > g. Another series of alleles at the ob locus is proposed for the fruit shape: allele Ob E for elongate fruit, which is the most dominant; allele Ob R (not the same as the o gene for round) for the round fruit; and allele ob for oblong fruit, which is the most recessive. Gene csm is proposed for the clear stripe margin in the cultivar Red-N-Sweet and is recessive to the blurred stripe margin (Csm) in ‘Crimson Sweet’, ‘Allsweet’, and ‘Tendersweet Orange Flesh’.
There is a large genetic diversity for fruit size and yield in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai var. lanatus]. Current cultivars have high fruit quality but may not be the highest yielders. This study was designed to estimate variance components and heritability of fruit yield (Mg·ha−1), fruit count (th·ha−1), and fruit size (kg/fruit) in a cross involving high-yielding ‘Mountain Hoosier’ with low-yielding ‘Minilee’. Six generations (PaS1, PbS1, F1, F2, BC1Pa, and BC1Pb) were developed and tested in Summer 2008 at two locations in North Carolina. Discrete classes were not observed within the F2 segregating population. The actual distribution of the F2 population for fruit yield, fruit count, and fruit size deviated from the normal distribution. ‘Mountain Hoosier’ had higher parental and backcross variance than ‘Minilee’. High F2 variance for fruit yield indicated large phenotypic variance. There was a larger environmental variance than genetic variance associated with the yield traits. Estimates of broad- and narrow-sense heritability were low to medium. A large number of effective factors indicated polygenic inheritance for fruit yield and fruit size. Gain from selection for yield is amendable by selection. As a result of this complex inheritance, selection based on individual plant selection in pedigree method may not be useful for yield improvement in this population. Hence, a selection scheme based on progeny testing using replicated plots, perhaps at multiple locations, is recommended.
Yield data for the major cucurbit crops in the United States have been collected and summarized. Yield trends are presented for cucumber (Cucumis sativus; processing and fresh-market), melon (Cucumis melo; muskmelon and honeydew), and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) for the period 1951–2005. Data have been obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as originally reported by six of its units: Agricultural Marketing Service, Agricultural Research Service, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Economic Statistics Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service, and Statistical Reporting Service. For all crops yields have been increasing over time, except for processing cucumber, for which yields seem to have reached a plateau by the end of the 1990s.
Heritability of resistance to gummy stem blight (Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm.) was measured in two diverse cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) populations [North Carolina elite slicer 1 (NCES1) and North Carolina wide base pickle (NCWBP)]. Heritability was estimated using parent-offspring regression and half-sib family analysis in North Carolina field tests during 1991 and 1992. NCES1 is a slicing cucumber population with a narrow genetic base, and NCWBP is a pickling cucumber population with a wide genetic base. Heritability estimates were low to moderate ranging from 0.12 to 0.49 for the gummy stem blight leaf rating and from -0.03 to 0.12 for stem rating. Estimates of gain from selection were at least two times larger for selection based on half-sib families than for mass selection for all traits in both populations. Approximately three to five cycles of selection would be required to improve the NCES1 population mean for gummy stem blight leaf resistance by one rating scale unit, and three to four cycles of selection would be required to improve the NCWBP population mean for gummy stem blight leaf resistance by one rating scale unit, based on half-sib family selection. One rating scale unit decrease is equivalent to an 11% reduction in susceptibility. Gain would be slower if selecting for stem, or leaf and stem resistance. A moderate amount of additive genetic variation exists in both populations for gummy stem blight leaf resistance, but estimates for additive genetic variation for stem resistance indicate little to no additive genetic variation. Development of populations specifically for greater initial resistance and greater additive variance than found in these populations should aid in selection for resistance.
Gummy stem blight [Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm] is the second most important pathogen of field-grown cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) in North Carolina and a severe problem for greenhouse-grown cucumbers worldwide. To determine whether resistance exists under North Carolina field conditions, 83 cultigens [cultivars, breeding lines, and plant introduction (PI) accessions] were evaluated in the field for 4 years for their resistance to a mixture of D. bryoniae isolates. Plants were inoculated at the vine tip-over stage and rated for foliar lesion size and number. Cultigens identified as resistant in Wisconsin and The Netherlands were not resistant in North Carolina. When averaged over years and locations, the most resistant C. sativus cultigens were PI 164433, `Slice', PI 390264, M 17, and M 12. Several accessions of related Cucumis species were highly resistant: PI 299568 (C. myriocarpus Naud.), PI 282450 (C. zeyheri Sond.), PI 299572 (C. myriocarpus), and PI 233646 (C. anguria L.). The most susceptible cultivars were `Colet', `Meresto', `Supergreen', `Dura', `Pioneer', `Marketmore 76', `Pickmore', and `Addis'. `Calypso' and `Dasher II', popular cultivars in North Carolina, were moderately susceptible.
Gummy stem blight (Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm) is one of the major cucumber diseases, causing the second highest loss of any disease in North Carolina. Published methods of screening for resistance to this fungus are poorly correlated with field resistance. The objective of this study was to develop seedling or detached-leaf screening methods that are correlated with field resistance. Seedling tests examined the effects of: seedling age (1, 2 or 3 true leaves), days in humidity chamber, inoculum concentration (1×105, 1×106 or 1×107 spores per ml), time of inoculation (am vs. pm), fungal isolates, and cultigens. Detached leaf tests examined the effects of leaf age (1st, 2nd or 3rd true leaf), inoculum concentration (1×104, 1×105 or 1×106 spores per ml), and light levels during incubation (dark vs. 12h light/12h dark). Correlations between seedling tests and field data were moderate to high (r = 0.5 to 0.7). However, the coefficients of variation were also high. Correlations between detached leaf tests and field data were very low or negative.