Summary
Parthenocarpic (seedless) U.S. processing type cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) germplasm can bear more high quality fruit when compared to their seeded counterparts. Knowledge of genetic components of variation for parthenocarpy would assist cucumber breeders to incorporate this economically important trait into commercial varieties. The inheritance of parthenocarpy in elite U.S. processing type cucumber was, therefore, investigated by examining the single-harvest yield of F3 progeny derived from a mating between line 2A (P1, parthenocarpic) and line Gy8 (P2, non-parthenocarpic) grown in two fields (E-block and G-block at Hancock, Wisc.) in the summer of 2000. Environmental variance accounted for about 90% of total phenotypic variance in both locations. The degree of dominance genetic variance was 0.3 and 2.2 at G-block and E-block, respectively, and the minimum number of effective factors controlling parthenocarpy was estimated as 5 (G-block) to 13 (E-block). Estimates of heritability were significantly lower when based on individual plants within an F3 family and on F3 family mean performances. While narrow-sense and broad-sense heritability of individual plants within F3 family was always < 0.1, narrow-sense heritability for F3 family mean performance ranged between 0.33 (E-block) and 0.62 (G-block), and broad-sense heritability ranged between 0.53 (E-block) and 0.67 (G-block). Thus, in this population, advanced generation selection for parthenocarpy based on F3 family mean performance will be more effective than selection of individual plants within F3 family.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Castle, W.E., 1921. An improved method of estimating the number of genetic factors concerned in cases of blending inheritance. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81: 6904–6907.
Cockerham, C.C., 1986. Modifications in estimating the number of genes for a quantitative character. Genetics 114: 659–664.
Comstock, R.E. & H.F. Robinson, 1952. Estimation of average dominance of genes. In: J.W. Gowen (Ed.), Heterosis. Iowa State College Press, Ames, IA.
de Ponti, O.M.B., 1976. Breeding parthenocarpic pickling cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.): Necessity, genetical possibilities, environmental influences and selection criteria. Euphytica 25: 29–40.
de Ponti, O.M.B. & F. Garretsen, 1976. Inheritance of parthenocarpy in pickling cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) and linkage with other characters. Euphytica 25: 633–642.
Denna, D.W., 1973. Effects of genetic parthenocarpy and gynoecious flowering habit on fruit production and growth of cucumber Cucumis sativus L. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 98: 602–604.
El-Shawaf, I.I.S. & L.R. Baker, 1981a. Inheritance of parthenocarpic yield in gynoecious pickling cucumber for once-over mechanical harvest by diallel analysis of six gynoecious lines. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 106: 359–364.
El-Shawaf, I.I.S. & L.R. Baker, 1981b. Combining ability and genetic variances of G × H F1 hybrids for parthenocarpic yield in gynoecious pickling cucumber form once-over mechanical harvest. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 106: 365–370.
Falconer, D.S., 1989. Introduction to quantitative genetics, 3rd ed. Longman Scientific and Technical, NY.
Fazio, G., J.E. Staub & M.R. Stevens, 2003. Genetic mapping and QTL analysis of horticultural traits in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) using recombinant inbred lines. Theor Appl Genet 107: 864–874.
Hallauer, A.R. & J.B. Miranda, 1988. Quantitative genetics in maize breeding, Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA.
Kearysey, M.J. & H.S. Pooni, 1996. The genetical analysis of quantitative traits. Chapman and Hall, London.
Kearsey, M.J. & J.L. Jinks, 1968. A general method of detecting additive, dominance and epistatic variation for metrical traits. I Theory. Heredity 23: 403–409.
Lehmann, E.L. & H.J.M. D'Abrera, 1975. Nonparametrics: statistical methods based on ranks. Holden Day, San Francisco.
Lower, R.L. & M.D. Edwards, 1986. Cucumber breeding. In: M.J. Basset (Ed), Breeding Vegetable Crops. AVI Publishing Company, Westport, CN.
Mather, K., 1949. Biometrical genetics: The study of continuous variation. Methuen, London.
Mather, K. & J.L. Jinks, 1971. Biometrical Genetics. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
Mather, K. & J.L. Jinks, 1977. Introduction to Biometrical Genetics. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
McCollum J.P., 1934. Vegetative and reproductive responses associated with fruit development in the cucumber. NY (Cornell) Agr. Exp. Stat. Memo. 163.
Peterson, C.E., 1978. Plant introductions in the improvement of vegetable cultivars. HortScience 10: 575–579.
SAS software, Version 8 of the SAS System for Unix, 1999. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.
Sun, Z., 2004. Inheritance and molecular marker-based genetic mapping of parthenocarpy in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wisconsin –Madison.
Sun Z., R.L. Lower & J.E. Staub, 2006a. Analysis of generation means and components of variance for parthenocarpy in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) Plant Breeding (in press).
Sun, Z., J.E. Staub, & R.L. Lower, 2006b. Identification and comparative analysis of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with parthenocarpy in processing cucumber. Plt. Breed. (In press).
Tiedjens, A.A., 1928. Sex ratios in cucumber flowers as affected by different conditions of soil and light. J Agr Res 36: 720–746.
Uzcategui, N.A. & L.R. Baker, 1979. Effects on multiple pistillate flowering on yields of gynoecious pickle cucumbers. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 104: 148–151.
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1940, 1984. Agricultural Statistics. U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Wehner, T.C., 1989. Breeding for improved yield in cucumber. In: J. Janick (Ed.), Plant Breeding Reviews. Wiley, NY.
Wehner, T.C. & C.S. Cramer, 1996. Ten cycles of recurrent selection for fruit yield, earliness, and quality in three slicing cucumber populations. J Amer Soc Hort Sci 121: 362–366.
Wright. S., 1968. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. I. Genetic and biometric foundations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sun, Z., Lower, R.L. & Staub, J.E. Variance component analysis of parthenocarpy in elite U.S. processing type cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) lines. Euphytica 148, 331–339 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-005-9041-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-005-9041-z