Performance of parthenocarpic cucumber genotypes under protected cultivation for yield and horticultural traits

Abstract

An investigation was conducted to identify the most desirable genotypes of parthenocarpic cucumber under protected cultivation. Experimental material consists of 23 genotypes of parthenocarpic cucumber including 1 check (KPCH-1) and the experiment was laid out in three replications with support of Randomized Block Design. ANOVA revealed significant differences among the genotypes for 17 traits. Based on the genotypes' mean performance for all traits investigated, m earliest days to first flower (26.80) and minimum inter-nodal length (7.22 cm) was observed in genotype BRPCU-1×BRPCU-8, whereas maximum number of flowers per node (2.20), number fruits per vine (31.47) and yield per vine (3.96 kg) was observed in genotype BRPCU1×BRPCU-8. The lowest node to the first flower (3.27) was observed in genotype BRPCU-2×BRPCU-7. Earliest days to first picking (39.80 days) whereas highest TSS (3.87 °Brix) and longest span of harvesting (58.67 days) was noted in genotype in BRPCU-2×BRPCU-5. The highest average fruit weight was recorded in genotype BRPCU-2×BRPCU-8 (143.07 g), while the highest fruit length was observed in genotype BRPCU-5 (20.73 cm). Genotype BRPCU-3×BRPCU-8 (3.90 cm) had maximum fruit diameter. Maximum vine length was recorded in BRPCU-6×BRPCU-7 (3.15 m). The best top-performing genotypes identified in the present study were BRPCU1×BRPCU-8, BRPCU-2×BRPCU-5, and BRPCU-3×BRPCU-8 were superior for most of the fruit yield components and quality traits.