Rapid progress has been made in classical genetics and traditional breeding in cucumber for various quantitative and qualitative traits which greatly benefited the development of superior varieties suitable for open field and protected cultivation. The different breeding methods like plant introductions, hybridizations, pedigree selection, recombination breeding, and marker-assisted selection have been employed successfully in developing superior varieties and F 1 hybrids.
The development of new varieties with earliness, high yield, and resistance to diseases (powdery mildew, downy mildew, and tolerance to the virus) through a selection of superior parental lines followed by hybridization and marker-assisted introgression of desired genes was a game-changer in cucumber breeding. The exploitation of gynoecious sex along with parthenocarpic traits in traditional breeding has created a revolution in cucumber cultivation throughout the world which enabled the adoption of cucumber crops by the farming communities on a large scale.
Molecular markers technology could be exploited to overcome the obstacle of traditional breeding by accelerating the breeding cycle and selection of desirable traits. The high-density genetic maps for various traits have been constructed in cucumber to detected quantitative traits loci (QTLs) for genetic enhancement in different market classes of cucumber. Therefore, this research highlights the concepts of genetic foundations for advancement made in cucumber breeding.
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Jat, Gograj & Behera, Tusar & Lata, Suman. (2021). Classical Genetics and Traditional Breeding in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). 10.5772/intechopen.97593.