Evaluation of the U.S. Cucumber Germplasm Collection for Early Flowering

A greenhouse study was conducted to evaluate 866 cultigens (718 accessions, 38 breeding lines, and 110 new and obsolete cultivars) of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) for early staminate flower production. Complete data were obtained for 866 cultigens. The study was conducted on plants that were part of a root-knot nematode experiment. Plants were grown from seeds in greenhouses in each of 3 seasons with 2 replications per season. There were significant differences for mean time of flowering over all cultigens among the 3 seasons. Days from planting to first staminate flower ranged from 26 to 45, with a mean of 35 for all cultigens. Root-knot nematode infestation may be related to flowering, since early-flowering cultigens had more root galling. The earliest flowering cultigen was PI 249561 (26 days to flowering); the latest was PI 470254 (45 days to flowering).