Comparison of Single and Three-way Crosses of Pickling Cucumber Hybrids for Femaleness and Yield by Once-over Harvest1

Abstract

Abstract An array of 102 single and 3-way cross hybrids of pickling cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) were evaluated for yield over 2 years under field conditions. Hybrids were produced by crossing lines with gynoecious, monoecious, hermaphroditic, and androecious expression. The significant correlations between femaleness (percent pistillate nodes) and marketable yield were 0.34 for single cross and 0.45 for 3-way cross hybrids. Highest yields were obtained from the single crosses of gynoecious × androecious, and gynoecious × hermaphrodite, followed by the 3-way cross of (gynoecious × hermaphrodite) × androecious, on the basis of either total or marketable fruits per plant. Hybrids having androecious pollen parents exhibited more femaleness and produced higher yields than those with monoecious pollen parents. The possible use of these high yielding parental sex combinations as hybrid cultivars in place of conventional single crosses (gynoecious × monoecious) might improve the production of pickling cucumbers for once-over mechanical harvest.