SUPERIORITY OF NEW HYBRIDS DEVELOPED BY SINGLE PLANT SELECTION IN CUCUMBER ADVANCED

Breeding for yield traits in cucumber genotypes were investigated at the Experimental Farm of Dura International for Agricultural Development company in Beni-Sweif governorate, Egypt during the successive seasons from 2019 to 2023. In this program, cucumber inbreds were developed using single plant selection method. Selected inbreds were crossed and the resulting hybrids were evaluated with three widely growing hybrids (Bahi, Sakr, and Zein). Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the tested genotypes for early, late, and total fruit yield. Among the crosses P13xP25, P20xP27, P27xP26, P28xP13 and P18xP21 exhibited the highest superiority effect for the yield characteristics over the best three commercially checks. Therefore, this breeding program led to selections of good cucumber inbreds which can be grown to produce early, late and total high yield of cucumber under the Middle Egypt growing conditions and similar locations. Moreover, much money which is always spent in importing seeds of foreign cucumber hybrids can be saved.