Breeding for Fruit Rot Resistance in Cucumber

Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 1:4 (article 3) 1978

J. L. Bowers and M. J. Goode
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701

We now have two characters that we think may be helpful in breeding for fruit rot (Rhizoctonia) resistance. A small leaf type was found in our material 3 years ago, and we are in the process of crossing it with normal leaf lines to determine its mode of inheritance.

Another characteristic that seems to have merit from the standpoint of fruit rot; resistance was found in a line that carries the uniform fruit color gene. If our data on fruit rot resistance in 1977 are completely valid, then our AR 77-55 line processing the uniform green color will be very helpful in our program.

Two of our inbred gynoecious lines seemed to possess a usable level of resistance to fruit rot and we are increasing these lines in the greenhouse to use in a test for checking on the level of resistance.

In 1977, we had a rather heavy infestation of Corynespora casiicola (target spot) and we found that ‘Model’ possesses a fairly good level of resistance to this foliage disease.