Abstract
The mission of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) is research and development to realize the potential of vegetables for healthier lives and more resilient livelihoods. WorldVeg operates across Asia and Africa, and its breeding portfolio comprises global as well as traditional vegetables. Cucurbit crops make an important contribution to global food and nutrition security and are economically important to smallholder farmers in Asia, who account for 83% of global cucurbit production. The global cucurbit breeding program of WorldVeg focuses on four species: bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), tropical pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula), and sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica syn. L. aegyptiaca). Improved cultivars have been developed by the private seed industry, however, repeated recycling of lines derived from elite hybrids has narrowed the genetic base and reduced genetic gains for yield and other key traits. This trend will continue unless a concerted effort is made to introduce new genetic variability into elite hybrids. WorldVeg has organized a breeding consortium with seed companies to facilitate access to the Center’s new breeding lines derived from hitherto unexploited landraces to develop genetically diverse, improved cucurbit cultivars with enhanced yield and resistance to major diseases. Through this partnership, WorldVeg presents its improved lines and F1 hybrids at Crop Field Days for selection by private seed industry staff engaged in breeding, product development, and sales and marketing.
Highlights
Background of the WorldVeg Global CucurbitBreeding ProgramThe WorldVeg global cucurbit breeding program began in 2006 at the Center’s headquarters in Taiwan
Pre-breeding of major crops such as wheat, maize, rice, and barley or vegetables such as tomato and Cucurbits are a diverse family of vegetable crops that are of great economic importance to smallholder chili and not on the development of new cultivars of minor crops of the Cucurbitaceae family [44
Breeding efforts have focused on four species: bitter gourd, to collect a diverse germplasm collection from different parts of the world and has made this available tropical pumpkin, ridge gourd, and sponge gourd
Summary
“Cucurbits” is a broad term that refers to all taxa of the highly diverse family known as Cucurbitaceae, which includes at least 950 species in over 90 genera that are mainly distributed in the tropics and subtropics [1]. To achieve quick gains and meet continuous farmer and market demands for new products, cucurbit breeders have often resorted to deriving lines by inbreeding a few elite F1 hybrids and using this recycled germplasm to generate new hybrids This practice has led to reduced genetic diversity among commercial cultivars of these gourds [4] and pumpkins, which has rendered these crops vulnerable to biotic and abiotic stresses and limited the potential for long-term yield improvements. The Center’s cucurbit breeding program exploits the diversity of this collection to develop high yielding and disease resistant lines with a range of fruit types appropriate for different markets. This paper describes the WorldVeg global cucurbit breeding program, including the history of the program, the crop species targeted, and its partnership with the public and private sectors aimed at creating impact for smallholder vegetable farmers in Asia and Africa
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