Recent advances in cucumber ( <i>Cucumis sativus</i> L.)
Manpreet Kaur, Parveen Sharma
Abstract
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) belongs to family cucurbitaceae and is grown for both fresh and processing purpose. It imparts cooling effect; consumed as salads, pickles;, rich source of vitamins, minerals; can cure jaundice-like diseases; has fragrance and is crispy in nature. To meet the increasing demand of the population, production of vegetable crops has been enhanced. Elite genotypes with high yield, quality, gynoecy, and tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses are more in demand. In past decades, conventional breeding played a vital role in cucumber improvement. Since, progress through conventional breeding is very slow and requires more time for selecting desirable traits in cultivars. However, researchers have employed novel molecular and transgenic approaches in cucumber breeding to develop new cultivars rapidly to fulfil the needs of a growing population. Use of novel molecular approaches have increased the genetic diversity for cucumber breeding programme. The development of genomic tools enables the breeder to attain the success in a shorter period. In this review, various technologies used for the improvement of cucumber crop are discussed. The current eminence of improvement in cucumber crop over a period of time for various traits like sex expression, disease resistance, quality improvement, genetic engineering are described in detail.