Assessment of Physiological and Qualitative Traits of Cucumber Genotypes under Ambient Conditions

Abstract

Background: With the advancement of storage period the crispness or firmness of greenhouse cucumber gradually decreased and usually had a shelf life counting from only 3 to 5 days at the ambient conditions. Methods: This experiment was conducted to evaluate the status of quality deterioration during post-harvest handling of different genotypes of greenhouse cucumber under ambient conditions. The basis of evaluation was based on the analysis of several physiological and qualitative traits including, physiological loss in weight (%), firmness (Newton), total soluble solids (°Brix), titratable acidity (%), total chlorophyll and total carotenoid content (mg/100 mg fresh weight). Result: Among cucumber inbred lines, the genotype, BRGCU-4 was observed with minimum moisture loss and highest firmness values, while the BRPCU-8 found to be best in retaining highest TSS and acidity and BRPCU-3 exhibited highest chlorophyll content during the storage period of a week. Moreover, hybrids of BRGCU-4 × BRPCU-6, followed by BRGCU-4 × BRPCU-8 were much better in retaining moistures and firmness, while the BRPCU-3 × BRPCU-6 hybrids recorded for highest chlorophyll andcarotenoid content. Therefore, these genotypes were found to be suitable for transportation, marketing and storage at ambient conditions.