Kerala agri varsity develops a new hybrid variety of salad cucumber

Salad cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a nutritional ingredient in raw or cooked greens served with lunch or supper. It is a adaptable crop for rising possibly under open up problem, shaded problem or safeguarded cultivation under shade-web or poly-home.

While normal cucumber type suited for rising under open up problem create both equally male and female flowers, these Parthenocarpic hybrids suited for rising under poly-houses create only female flowers and all these flowers build into fruits without having pollination.

On the other hand, commercial manufacturing of Parthenocarpic cucumber hybrids carried out in the corporate sector by greenhouses has created the seeds dearer to farmers with its cost ranging in between ₹4 and ₹6 for every seed, claims T Pradeepkumar, Head of Office of Vegetable Science, Kerala Agricultural College (KAU).

Polyhouse cultivation

To make it a rewarding agri-undertaking, he stated KAU has introduced a new hybrid assortment — KAU Parthenocarpic Cucumber Hybrid-1(KPCH-1) — suited for poly-home cultivation. The breeding lines generated by KAU could make obtainable fruits at an affordable price of ₹1 for every seed.

According to him, the recently-created cucumber is preferably suited for poly-home cultivation, as the fruit is harvested in immature phase and vertical height of the poly-home framework can be utilised for the manufacturing of much more selection of fruiting nodes.

Fees and Returns

In India, cucumber is grown about a few lakh hectares with a sector worth of ₹60 crore for seeds both equally hybrid and normal. The Parthenocarpic cucumber hybrid is specialty phase and its profitability has captivated a lot of younger farmers to go for its cultivation. A 10 cent poly-home can produce 5 tonnes with a return of ₹3 lakh in four months at a promoting cost of ₹60 for every kg, Pradeepkumar additional.

KPCH-1 was created by the College with a targeted breeding programme in 2011. It was notified for Kerala by the Central Seed Committee in 2019. This is the only public sector hybrid in Parthenocarpic cucumber hybrids notified in India.

These new cucumber hybrids are now the most sought-immediately after assortment of farmers in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. A lot of upcountry farmers have already began on line procurement of seeds from KAU.

In addition to, the agricultural universities in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka have already done trials with this hybrid assortment and uncovered it to be top-quality to commercial hybrids in the non-public sector, Pradeepkumar stated.