NCSU Cucumber Breeding Report - 2009
Todd C. Wehner
Professor
Tammy L. Ellington
Research Specialist
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 2, 4 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: Phil Denlinger, Henry Woods, Bob Quinn, and Jimmy Davis (Mt. Olive),
Eddie Quill, Darrell Hawley, JW Jackson, and Rickey Jackson (Bay Valley),
Curtiss Cates and John Cates (Addis Cates Co.), Steve Apol (Toisnot), Dan Bader
(Carolina's Best), Sara Walpole, Chris Dyke, and Michelle Wood (Nunhems), 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-Duplin, Vlasstar,
NC-Danbury, Exp08-7878, Vlaspik, EGP-410, Exp08-7612, McPick, Johnston, Starex,
Feisty(9464), and Cross Country.
- Most cultigens were bloater resistant; several were susceptible: NC-Moriah,
Exp08-7612, and NC-Denton.
- The firmest cultigens were Sumter, Europick, EGP-410, Exp08-7814, NC-Danbury,
Exp08-7878, Treasure, LB 17, Exp08-7612, Vlasstar, and NC-Lexington.
- 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 Denlinger who assigned the highest quality ratings, to
Jackson 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-Duplin NCState Univ 6.6 6.6 6.7 6.5 6.5 6.5
2 Vlasstar Seminis 6.3 6.2 6.5 6.3 6.2 6.5
3 NC-Danbury NCState Univ 6.2 6.1 6.5 6.1 6.1 6.3
4 Exp08-7878 Bejo Seeds 6.1 6.0 5.7 6.4 6.4 6.1
5 Vlaspik Seminis 6.0 5.7 6.2 6.2 6.2 5.9
6 EGP-410 EmeraldSeeds 6.0 5.6 6.0 6.4 6.3 5.8
7 Exp08-7612 Bejo Seeds 5.8 5.5 6.3 5.8 5.9 5.7
8 McPick UnitedGenet 5.8 5.9 6.6 4.9 5.7 6.0
9 Johnston NCState Univ 5.7 5.2 6.0 5.9 5.8 5.8
10 Starex Baker Seeds 5.7 5.1 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.8
11 Feisty(9464) Harris Moran 5.7 5.4 6.3 5.5 5.5 5.8
12 CrossCountry Harris Moran 5.7 5.4 5.9 5.6 5.5 5.9
13 Sumter Clemson Univ 5.7 5.3 5.1 6.1 6.2 5.6
14 Raleigh NCState Univ 5.6 5.4 6.2 5.3 5.4 5.8
15 Sassy Harris Moran 5.6 5.0 6.6 5.2 5.2 5.8
16 Europick UnitedGenet 5.6 5.1 5.9 5.7 5.6 5.6
17 NC-Longhurst NCState Univ 5.5 5.1 6.4 5.0 5.1 6.1
18 EGP-427 EmeraldSeeds 5.5 5.1 6.2 5.5 5.5 5.3
19 NC-Davie ZeraimGedera 5.5 5.9 5.8 4.9 4.9 5.9
20 NC-Lexington NCState Univ 5.5 5.3 5.6 5.4 5.3 5.6
21 Exp08-7814 Bejo Seeds 5.4 5.0 5.9 5.1 5.3 5.5
22 NC-Dawson NCState Univ 5.4 5.3 5.7 5.1 5.0 5.7
23 HSX 441-B HortAg Seeds 5.3 5.3 6.1 5.1 4.7 5.5
24 NC-Leland NCState Univ 5.3 4.9 5.9 5.0 4.8 5.8
25 Calypso NCState Univ 5.2 4.9 4.6 5.6 5.6 5.4
26 Colt Seminis 5.2 5.1 5.4 5.4 4.5 5.5
27 Exp08-7633 Bejo Seeds 5.2 4.9 5.4 5.2 5.0 5.3
28 NC-Denton NCState Univ 5.1 5.0 5.4 4.9 4.9 5.5
29 LB 17 Baker Seeds 5.1 4.7 5.4 5.2 4.9 5.3
30 Treasure Harris Moran 5.0 4.4 4.9 5.6 5.4 4.9
32 NC-Moriah NCState Univ 4.9 4.9 4.8 4.7 4.6 5.4
33 H-19 Seminis 4.8 4.8 5.5 3.9 4.1 5.5
34 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 4.5 4.2 4.5 4.7 4.7 4.6
35 NC-Merritt NCState Univ 3.9 3.1 4.5 3.5 3.4 4.8
36 Coolgreen Seminis 3.7 3.1 4.5 3.2 3.3 4.3
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 13.5 20.7 16.6 20.0 21.1 17.5
Mean 5.4 5.1 5.7 5.3 5.3 5.6
LSD (5%) 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 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) = 0.87**
Correlation (Texture with Seedcell) = 0.92**
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-Duplin NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
2 Vlasstar Seminis 0 0 0 0
3 Vlaspik Seminis 0 0 0 0
4 Johnston NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
5 Starex Baker Seeds 0 0 0 0
6 CrossCountry Harris Moran 0 0 0 0
7 NC-Dawson NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
8 HSX 441-B HortAg Seeds 0 0 0 0
9 NC-Leland NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
10 Colt Seminis 0 0 0 0
11 LB 17 Baker Seeds 0 0 0 0
12 Treasure Harris Moran 0 0 0 0
13 Wealthy Harris Moran 0 0 0 0
14 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 0 0 0 0
15 NC-Merritt NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
16 Coolgreen Seminis 0 0 0 0
17 Feisty(9464) Harris Moran 0 0 0 0
18 NC-Lexington NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
19 NC-Davie ZeraimGedera 0 0 0 0
20 Calypso NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
21 Europick UnitedGenet 0 0 0 0
22 EGP-427 EmeraldSeeds 0 0 0 0
23 NC-Danbury NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
24 Raleigh NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
25 Exp08-7633 Bejo Seeds 0 0 0 0
26 H-19 Seminis 0 0 0 0
27 EGP-410 EmeraldSeeds 0 0 0 0
28 Sumter Clemson Univ 0 0 0 0
29 Exp08-7878 Bejo Seeds 1 0 0 0
30 NC-Longhurst NCState Univ 1 1 0 0
31 Sassy Harris Moran 1 1 0 0
32 McPick UnitedGenet 1 1 0 0
33 Exp08-7814 Bejo Seeds 3 2 1 0
34 NC-Moriah NCState Univ 3 3 0 0
35 Exp08-7612 Bejo Seeds 3 3 0 0
36 NC-Denton NCState Univ 4 4 0 0
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 332.9 333.2 814.5 0
Mean 0.4 0.4 0.1 0
LSD (5%) 2.4 2.2 0.5 0
_________________________________________________________________________________
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-Duplin NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
2 Vlasstar Seminis 0 0 0 0
3 Vlaspik Seminis 0 0 0 0
4 Johnston NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
5 Starex Baker Seeds 0 0 0 0
6 Treasure Harris Moran 0 0 0 0
7 Exp08-7878 Bejo Seeds 0 0 0 0
8 NC-Moriah NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
9 Feisty(9464) Harris Moran 0 0 0 0
10 NC-Lexington NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
11 NC-Denton NCState Univ 0 0 0 0
12 CrossCountry Harris Moran 1 0 1 0
13 LB 17 Baker Seeds 1 0 1 0
14 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 1 0 0 1
15 Calypso NCState Univ 1 1 0 0
16 Sassy Harris Moran 1 0 1 0
17 Wealthy Harris Moran 1 0 1 0
18 NC-Danbury NCState Univ 1 1 0 0
19 Exp08-7814 Bejo Seeds 1 1 0 0
20 Europick UnitedGenet 2 1 1 0
21 EGP-427 EmeraldSeeds 2 1 1 0
22 NC-Longhurst NCState Univ 2 0 0 2
23 NC-Dawson NCState Univ 2 0 0 2
24 NC-Leland NCState Univ 2 0 0 2
25 Raleigh NCState Univ 2 1 0 1
26 Sumter Clemson Univ 2 2 0 0
27 Exp08-7612 Bejo Seeds 2 1 0 1
28 NC-Merritt NCState Univ 2 0 0 2
29 HSX 441-B HortAg Seeds 3 0 0 3
30 NC-Davie ZeraimGedera 3 1 1 1
31 Exp08-7633 Bejo Seeds 3 1 0 1
32 H-19 Seminis 3 1 0 1
33 EGP-410 EmeraldSeeds 3 2 1 0
34 Colt Seminis 3 0 0 3
35 McPick UnitedGenet 6 6 0 0
36 Coolgreen Seminis 7 0 0 7
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 115.3 202.6 332.5 186.6
Mean 1.5 0.6 0.2 0.7
LSD (5%) 2.9 2.0 0.9 2.3
_________________________________________________________________________________
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 Sumter Clemson Univ 19.3 6.1 2 0 0 2
2 Europick UnitedGenet 18.6 5.7 2 0 0 2
3 EGP-410 EmeraldSeeds 18.4 6.4 3 0 0 3
4 Exp08-7814 Bejo Seeds 18.4 5.1 4 3 2 1
5 NC-Danbury NCState Univ 18.3 6.1 1 0 0 1
6 Exp08-7878 Bejo Seeds 18.1 6.4 1 1 0 0
7 Treasure Harris Moran 18.1 5.6 0 0 0 0
8 LB 17 Baker Seeds 17.8 5.2 1 0 0 1
9 Exp08-7612 Bejo Seeds 17.5 5.8 5 3 3 2
10 Vlasstar Seminis 17.2 6.3 0 0 0 0
11 NC-Lexington NCState Univ 17.0 5.4 0 0 0 0
12 Vlaspik Seminis 16.8 6.2 0 0 0 0
13 NC-Leland NCState Univ 16.8 5.0 2 0 0 2
14 Colt Seminis 16.7 5.4 3 0 0 3
15 NC-Longhurst NCState Univ 16.7 5.0 2 1 1 2
16 Calypso NCState Univ 16.6 5.6 1 0 0 1
17 Johnston NCState Univ 16.5 5.9 0 0 0 0
18 HSX 441-B HortAg Seeds 16.4 5.1 3 0 0 3
19 NC-Denton NCState Univ 16.1 4.9 4 4 4 0
20 McPick UnitedGenet 16.0 4.9 7 1 1 6
21 Raleigh NCState Univ 15.9 5.3 2 0 0 2
22 H-19 Seminis 15.9 3.9 3 0 0 3
23 Exp08-7633 Bejo Seeds 15.7 5.2 3 0 0 3
24 Starex Baker Seeds 15.6 5.9 0 0 0 0
25 CrossCountry Harris Moran 15.5 5.6 1 0 0 1
26 NC-Duplin NCState Univ 15.4 6.5 0 0 0 0
27 NC-Moriah NCState Univ 15.3 4.7 3 3 3 0
29 NC-Davie ZeraimGedera 14.7 4.9 3 0 0 3
30 Feisty(9464) Harris Moran 14.5 5.5 0 0 0 0
31 NC-Merritt NCState Univ 14.2 3.5 2 0 0 2
32 Wis.SMR 18 Univ. Wis. 14.2 4.7 1 0 0 1
33 EGP-427 EmeraldSeeds 14.1 5.5 2 0 0 2
34 NC-Dawson NCState Univ 13.6 5.1 2 0 0 2
35 Sassy Harris Moran 13.2 5.2 2 1 1 1
36 Coolgreen Seminis 9.4 3.2 7 0 0 7
_________________________________________________________________________________
CV (%) 7.1 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 16.1 0 0 0 0 0
LSD (5%) 1.9 0 0 0 0 0
_________________________________________________________________________________
z Firmness determined by punch-testing (Magness-Taylor) 10 grade 2B fruits.
Correlation of Texture with: Firmness = 0.46**, Balloon = -0.14ns
Correlation of Texture with: Honeycomb = 0.00ns, Soft centers = -0.61**
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 Denlinger 6.5 6.2 7.3 5.8 6.1 7.3
2 Apol 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4
3 Hawley 6.0 5.8 6.2 6.0 6.1 6.1
4 Davis 6.0 5.7 5.4 6.4 6.6 5.8
5 CatesC 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.0 5.7 5.9
6 Ware 5.7 5.3 5.8 6.0 6.0 5.5
7 Woods 5.7 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.6 5.8
8 Quill 5.7 5.2 5.9 5.3 5.7 6.1
9 Bader 5.5 5.3 5.8 5.6 5.4 5.5
10 Dyke 5.2 5.1 5.7 4.8 5.1 5.4
11 Wood 5.0 4.4 5.8 5.1 5.3 4.4
12 JacksonJW 5.0 5.3 6.0 4.3 4.0 5.3
13 CatesJ 4.8 4.2 4.6 4.9 5.1 5.2
14 JacksonRk 4.7 4.5 5.4 4.7 4.4 4.7
15 Quinn 4.7 4.1 4.4 4.0 3.3 7.5
16 Walpole 3.7 3.1 5.1 3.9 3.5 3.1
_________________________________________________________________________________
z Quality rated 1 to 9 (9=A+, 8=A, 7=A-, 6=B+, 5=B, 4=B-, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F).