NCSU Cucumber Breeding Report - 2007
Todd C. Wehner
Professor
Tammy L. Ellington
Agric. Res. Tech. III
Department of Horticultural Science
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7609
Pickling Cucumbers
Brinestock Evaluation
Spring (Stage 3) Pickle Trial
Todd C. Wehner and Tammy L. Ellington z
Department of Horticultural Science
North Carolina State University
Introduction
Cucumbers from harvests 3, 5 and 6 of the stage 3 spring pickling cucumber
trial were each placed in one brine tank at Mt. Olive Pickle Co. The tanks
were purged with nitrogen to remove excess carbon dioxide from the brine.
Methods
The cultigens (cultivars and breeding lines) were evaluated for fruit quality
(shape, external color, texture, seedcell size, and lot uniformity), firmness,
bloaters, and other defects in October. Quality was evaluated by judges from
industry: Jimmy Davis, Henry Woods, Bob Quinn, and Nick Flores (Mt. Olive),
Eddie Quill and Chris Whitley (Bay Valley), John Cates (Addis Cates Co.),
Steve Apol (Toisnot), Dan Bader (Carolina's Best), Thomas Joyner (Nash Produce),
and Chris Ware (Harris Moran).
Fruit quality was evaluated using a rating system (that approximated letter
grades) from 1 to 9, where 9 = A+, 8 = A, 7 = A-, 6 = B+, 5 = B, 4 = B-, 3 = C,
2 = D, 1 = F. Bloaters and defects were measured as percentage of fruits with
damage in a sample of 20 grade 3B fruits. Firmness was measured by punching 10
grade 2B fruits with a Magness-Taylor tester (having a 5/16" diameter tip). All
cultigens were randomized, replicated and coded to prevent bias and provide a
measure of error variance.
Results
The cultigens are presented in order by decreasing fruit quality in Table 1, and
are ranked for resistance to bloaters and defects in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.
Fruit texture and firmness rankings are in Table 4. The average quality ratings
assigned by each judge in the test are presented in Table 5, showing how lenient
each judge was relative to the others. Because of low bloater incidence, the
bloater data showed few significant differences among cultigens.
Summary
- The cultigens with best fruit quality in brinestock were NC-Danbury,
NC-Lexington, NC-Longhurst, Atlantis, Cates, NC-Leland, Calypso, Johnston,
and Pershing.
- Most cultigens were bloater resistant; several were susceptible: NC-Dixon.
- The firmest cultigens were NC-Danbury, Exp06-3566, Sumter, Exp06-3565,
Atlantis, and HS-500.
- As usual, brinestock firmness (from the punch test) was only partially
correlated with texture (subjective rating from the judges), so the two
traits are measurements of different aspects of cucumber fruit firmness.
- Judges ranged from Apol who assigned the highest quality ratings, to
Woods who assigned the lowest. Analysis of variance indicated significant
differences among judges for the way they rated fruit quality. However,
interaction of judge with cultigen was non-significant (the judges agreed
on which were good cultigens, and which were bad cultigens).
____________________________
z Thanks to Mt. Olive Pickle Co., Mt. Olive, N.C. for assistance in brining the
cucumbers, and for providing the facilities for evaluating the cultigens tested.
Thanks also to the personnel at the Horticultural Crops Research Station,
Clinton, N.C. for help in running the field trials.
Table 1. Brinestock evaluation - quality ratings (cultigens are ranked by
average quality).z
_________________________________________________________________________________
Cultivar Seed Average Extrnal Text- Seed Uniform-
Rank or line source quality Shape color ure cell ity
_________________________________________________________________________________
1 NC-Danbury NCStateUniv 6.3 6.2 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6
2 NC-Lexington2 NCStateUniv 5.8 6.1 6.1 5.4 5.3 6.2
3 NC-Longhurst NCStateUniv 5.7 5.9 6.1 5.1 5.2 6.3
4 Atlantis Bejo Seeds 5.6 4.8 5.8 5.6 5.6 6.2
5 Cates Nunhems 5.6 5.1 5.5 5.7 5.5 6.1
6 NC-Leland(P) NCStateUniv 5.6 5.6 5.2 5.5 5.6 6.0
7 Calypso NCStateUniv 5.6 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.8
8 Johnston NCStateUniv 5.5 5.2 5.7 5.5 5.6 5.7
9 Pershing Nunhems 5.5 4.9 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.7
10 NC-Leland NCStateUniv 5.5 5.7 5.6 5.1 5.1 6.0
11 Sumter ClemsonUniv 5.5 5.0 5.2 5.5 5.8 5.8
12 Exp06-3558 Bejo Seeds 5.4 5.1 5.8 5.1 5.2 6.0
13 NC-Denton NCStateUniv 5.4 4.8 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.9
14 Vlaspik Seminis 5.4 5.2 5.5 5.3 5.2 5.9
15 NC-Longhurst(P) NCStateUniv 5.4 5.4 5.1 5.4 5.1 6.0
16 Exp06-3565 Bejo Seeds 5.4 5.1 5.8 5.0 5.0 5.9
17 LB-17 Baker Seeds 5.4 4.5 5.2 5.5 5.7 5.8
18 HS-500 HortAg Seed 5.3 5.2 4.6 5.3 5.8 5.7
19 Starex Baker Seeds 5.3 4.6 5.2 5.3 5.8 5.8
20 Exp06-3566 Bejo Seeds 5.3 5.0 5.8 5.1 4.8 5.9
21 NC-Davie ZeraimGdera 5.3 5.0 5.5 5.2 5.0 5.8
22 Ballerina(P) Nunhems 5.3 4.9 5.2 5.2 5.4 5.7
23 Feisty(9464) HarrisMoran 5.3 5.1 5.7 4.9 5.0 5.7
24 Crispina Nunhems 5.3 5.1 5.4 5.1 4.9 5.7
25 NC-Moriah NCStateUniv 5.2 4.8 5.1 5.4 5.4 5.5
26 Crispina(P) Nunhems 5.2 5.1 5.3 5.1 5.1 5.7
27 MacArthur Nunhems 5.2 4.6 5.6 5.3 5.1 5.5
28 NC-Dawson NCStateUniv 5.2 4.8 5.5 5.2 5.1 5.5
29 PX0496-4769 Seminis 5.2 4.9 5.6 5.1 5.2 5.4
30 NC-Dixon NCStateUniv 5.2 4.9 5.3 4.7 5.2 5.9
31 Wainwright Nunhems 5.2 4.5 5.5 5.2 5.2 5.6
32 NC-Duplin NCStateUniv 5.2 4.9 5.2 4.9 5.1 5.8
33 Jackson(3540) Nunhems 5.1 5.1 5.7 4.5 4.4 5.7
34 H-19 Univ. Ark. 5.1 5.5 5.2 4.6 4.7 5.3
35 Ballerina Nunhems 5.1 4.6 5.2 4.8 4.8 5.9
36 HMX-5406 HarrisMoran 5.0 4.3 5.3 5.2 4.8 5.5
37 NC-Lexington(P) NCStateUniv 5.0 4.6 4.6 5.1 5.2 5.4
38 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 4.9 4.3 4.8 4.9 5.0 5.5
39 Raleigh NCStateUniv 4.8 4.2 5.2 5.0 4.7 5.3
40 PX0496-4729 Seminis 4.8 4.4 5.5 4.6 4.2 5.4
41 Coolgreen Check 4.5 4.1 4.8 4.1 3.8 5.5
42 NC-Merritt NCStateUniv 4.2 3.0 4.6 4.0 3.6 5.6
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 13 19 14 20 22 15
Mean 5.3 4.9 5.4 5.2 5.1 5.8
LSD (5%) 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.4
_________________________________________________________________________________
z Quality rated 1 to 9 (9=A+, 8=A, 7=A-, 6=B+, 5=B, 4=B-, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F).
Correlation (Shape with Uniformity) = 0.60**
Correlation (Texture with Seedcell) = 0.91**
Table 2. Brinestock evaluation - percentage of fruit damaged by bloaters
(cultigens are ranked by balloon bloater resistance).
_________________________________________________________________________________
Cultivar Seed Total Honey-
Rank or line source bloaters Balloon Lens comb
_________________________________________________________________________________
1 NC-Lexington2 NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
2 NC-Longhurst NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
3 Cates Nunhems 0 0 0 0
4 NC-Leland(P) NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
5 NC-Leland NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
6 NC-Longhurst(P) NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
7 Crispina Nunhems 0 0 0 0
8 NC-Dawson NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
9 NC-Lexington(P) NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
10 Coolgreen Check 0 0 0 0
11 Starex Baker Seeds 2 0 2 0
12 HS-500 HortAg Seed 1 0 1 0
13 Calypso NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
14 Crispina(P) Nunhems 0 0 0 0
15 Sumter ClemsonUniv 0 0 0 0
16 LB-17 Baker Seeds 0 0 0 0
17 Ballerina Nunhems 0 0 0 0
18 NC-Merritt NCStateUniv 0 0 0 0
19 Vlaspik Seminis 1 0 1 0
20 H-19 Univ. Ark. 0 0 0 0
21 Pershing Nunhems 0 0 0 0
22 Exp06-3565 Bejo Seeds 1 1 0 0
23 NC-Danbury NCStateUniv 1 1 0 0
24 NC-Moriah NCStateUniv 1 1 0 0
25 NC-Davie ZeraimGdera 1 1 0 0
26 Feisty(9464) HarrisMoran 1 1 0 0
27 Atlantis Bejo Seeds 1 1 0 0
28 Johnston NCStateUniv 1 1 0 0
29 MacArthur Nunhems 1 1 0 0
30 HMX-5406 HarrisMoran 1 1 0 0
31 PX0496-4769 Seminis 2 1 1 0
32 Ballerina(P) Nunhems 1 1 0 0
33 Exp06-3566 Bejo Seeds 1 1 0 0
34 NC-Denton NCStateUniv 1 1 0 0
35 Raleigh NCStateUniv 1 1 0 0
36 Jackson(3540) Nunhems 2 2 0 0
37 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 2 2 0 0
38 Exp06-3558 Bejo Seeds 2 2 0 0
39 Wainwright Nunhems 2 2 0 0
40 PX0496-4729 Seminis 3 3 0 0
41 NC-Duplin NCStateUniv 3 3 0 0
42 NC-Dixon NCStateUniv 8 8 0 0
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 168 185 444 -
Mean 1 1 0 0
LSD (5%) 3 3 1 -
_________________________________________________________________________________
Table 3. Brinestock evaluation - percentage of fruit damaged by defects
(cultigens are ranked by resistance to defects).
_________________________________________________________________________________
Blossom-
Cultivar Seed Total Placental end Soft
Rank or line source defects hollows defects centers
_________________________________________________________________________________
1 NC-Danbury NCStateUniv 1 1 0 0
2 Starex Baker Seeds 1 0 0 1
3 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 1 0 1 0
4 NC-Leland(P) NCStateUniv 1 0 0 1
5 NC-Leland NCStateUniv 1 0 0 1
6 NC-Lexington(P) NCStateUniv 1 0 0 1
7 HS-500 HortAg Seed 1 0 0 1
8 Cates Nunhems 1 0 0 1
9 Crispina Nunhems 1 0 0 1
10 Calypso NCStateUniv 1 1 0 1
11 LB-17 Baker Seeds 1 1 0 0
12 NC-Moriah NCStateUniv 1 1 0 1
13 Sumter ClemsonUniv 2 1 1 0
14 Pershing Nunhems 2 0 0 2
15 NC-Dawson NCStateUniv 2 0 0 2
16 Exp06-3565 Bejo Seeds 2 0 0 2
17 Johnston NCStateUniv 2 2 0 0
18 Wainwright Nunhems 2 2 0 0
19 Ballerina Nunhems 2 1 0 1
20 Vlaspik Seminis 2 1 1 0
21 NC-Davie ZeraimGdera 2 1 0 1
22 MacArthur Nunhems 2 2 0 1
23 Jackson(3540) Nunhems 2 0 0 2
24 Exp06-3558 Bejo Seeds 2 0 1 1
25 Feisty(9464) HarrisMoran 3 1 0 2
26 Exp06-3566 Bejo Seeds 3 2 0 1
27 Crispina(P) Nunhems 3 1 0 2
28 NC-Lexington2 NCStateUniv 3 0 1 3
29 Atlantis Bejo Seeds 3 2 1 0
30 Ballerina(P) Nunhems 3 1 1 1
31 PX0496-4729 Seminis 3 1 0 3
32 NC-Longhurst(P) NCStateUniv 4 0 0 4
33 NC-Denton NCStateUniv 4 2 1 1
34 Raleigh NCStateUniv 4 3 0 1
35 PX0496-4769 Seminis 4 3 0 1
36 H-19 Univ. Ark. 5 3 0 2
37 HMX-5406 HarrisMoran 5 3 0 2
38 NC-Duplin NCStateUniv 5 3 2 0
39 NC-Merritt NCStateUniv 5 1 0 4
40 NC-Dixon NCStateUniv 5 3 2 0
41 NC-Longhurst NCStateUniv 7 0 0 7
42 Coolgreen Check 7 0 0 7
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 114 - 109 174
Mean 3 0 0 1
LSD (5%) 5 2 1 4
_________________________________________________________________________________
Table 4. Brinestock evaluation - firmness and texture of fruit, and resistance
to bloaters and defects (cultigens are ranked by firmness).z
_________________________________________________________________________________
Firm- Total
Cultivar Seed ness Text- bloaters Total Bal-
Rank or line source (lb.) ure & defects bloaters loon Defects
_________________________________________________________________________________
1 NC-Danbury NCStateUniv 21.9 6.2 1 1 1 1
2 Exp06-3566 Bejo Seeds 21.5 5.1 4 1 1 3
3 Sumter ClemsonUniv 21.4 5.5 2 0 0 2
4 Exp06-3565 Bejo Seeds 21.3 5.0 3 1 1 2
5 Atlantis Bejo Seeds 21.2 5.6 4 1 1 3
6 HS-500 HortAg Seed 21.2 5.3 2 1 0 1
7 Johnston NCStateUniv 20.7 5.5 3 1 1 2
8 Vlaspik Seminis 20.7 5.3 3 1 0 2
9 Exp06-3558 Bejo Seeds 20.6 5.1 4 2 2 2
10 LB-17 Baker Seeds 20.4 5.5 1 0 0 1
11 NC-Dixon NCStateUniv 20.2 4.7 13 8 8 5
12 H-19 Univ. Ark. 20.2 4.6 5 0 0 5
13 HMX-5406 HarrisMoran 20.1 5.2 6 1 1 5
14 NC-Longhurst NCStateUniv 20.0 5.1 7 0 0 7
15 Ballerina Nunhems 19.9 4.8 2 0 0 2
16 NC-Lexington2 NCStateUniv 19.8 5.4 3 0 0 3
17 NC-Denton NCStateUniv 19.8 5.5 5 1 1 4
18 Feisty(9464) HarrisMoran 19.6 4.9 4 1 1 3
19 NC-Duplin NCStateUniv 19.6 4.9 8 3 3 5
20 PX0496-4729 Seminis 19.2 4.6 6 3 3 3
21 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 19.2 4.9 3 2 2 1
22 NC-Leland NCStateUniv 18.9 5.1 1 0 0 1
23 NC-Leland(P) NCStateUniv 18.9 5.5 1 0 0 1
24 MacArthur Nunhems 18.9 5.3 3 1 1 2
25 Cates Nunhems 18.8 5.7 1 0 0 1
26 Raleigh NCStateUniv 18.8 5.0 5 1 1 4
27 Crispina(P) Nunhems 18.8 5.1 3 0 0 3
28 PX0496-4769 Seminis 18.7 5.1 6 2 1 4
29 NC-Lexington(P) NCStateUniv 18.7 5.1 1 0 0 1
30 NC-Merritt NCStateUniv 18.7 4.0 5 0 0 5
31 Calypso NCStateUniv 18.7 5.5 1 0 0 1
32 Crispina Nunhems 18.5 5.1 1 0 0 1
33 Pershing Nunhems 18.5 5.7 2 0 0 2
34 NC-Dawson NCStateUniv 18.4 5.2 2 0 0 2
35 NC-Moriah NCStateUniv 18.4 5.4 2 1 1 1
36 Wainwright Nunhems 18.3 5.2 4 2 2 2
37 Starex Baker Seeds 18.2 5.3 2 2 0 1
38 Ballerina(P) Nunhems 18.1 5.2 5 1 1 3
39 NC-Longhurst(P) NCStateUniv 17.6 5.4 4 0 0 4
40 NC-Davie ZeraimGdera 17.1 5.2 3 1 1 2
41 Jackson(3540) Nunhems 16.5 4.5 4 2 2 2
42 Coolgreen Check 12.6 4.1 7 0 0 7
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 6 20 90 168 185 114
Mean 19.2 5.2 4 1 1 3
LSD (5%) 0.5 5 3 3 5
_________________________________________________________________________________
z Firmness determined by punch-testing (Magness-Taylor) 10 grade 2B fruits.
Correlation of Texture with: Firmness = 0.12ns, Balloon = -0.20*
Correlation of Texture with: Honeycomb = ns, Soft centers = -0.59**
Table 5. Brinestock evaluation - quality ratings assigned by the judges
(judges are ranked by leniency).z
_________________________________________________________________________________
Average External Seed Uniform-
Rank Judge quality Shape color Texture cell ity
_________________________________________________________________________________
1 Apol 6.9 6.5 7.1 7.1 6.8 7.1
2 Davis 6.7 6.5 6.6 6.9 6.8 6.6
3 Whitley 6.2 6.1 6.2 5.9 6.2 6.6
4 Quill 5.7 5.1 6.2 5.5 5.9 6.0
5 Joyner 5.3 5.6 5.4 5.0 4.7 5.5
6 Ware 5.1 3.9 5.5 5.3 5.2 5.6
7 Flores 4.9 4.5 4.8 4.6 4.9 5.7
8 Cates 4.8 4.5 4.8 4.7 4.8 5.1
9 Bader 4.6 4.7 4.9 4.5 4.0 4.9
10 Quinn 4.3 3.8 4.3 3.3 3.3 7.1
11 Woods 3.6 3.2 3.7 4.0 4.0 3.2
_________________________________________________________________________________
z Quality rated 1 to 9 (9=A+, 8=A, 7=A-, 6=B+, 5=B, 4=B-, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F).