Kerala agri varsity develops a new hybrid variety of salad cucumber
Salad cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a dietary ingredient in uncooked or cooked greens served with lunch or evening meal. It is a flexible crop for increasing either under open up condition, shaded scenario or protected cultivation under shade-web or poly-home.
Even though usual cucumber variety suitable for increasing under open up condition produce both male and woman bouquets, these Parthenocarpic hybrids suitable for increasing under poly-homes produce only woman bouquets and all these bouquets establish into fruits with no pollination.
On the other hand, commercial production of Parthenocarpic cucumber hybrids carried out in the company sector by greenhouses has built the seeds dearer to farmers with its value ranging concerning ₹4 and ₹6 for every seed, states T Pradeepkumar, Head of Department of Vegetable Science, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU).
Polyhouse cultivation
To make it a rewarding agri-undertaking, he claimed KAU has released a new hybrid range — KAU Parthenocarpic Cucumber Hybrid-one(KPCH-one) — suitable for poly-home cultivation. The breeding strains generated by KAU could make offered fruits at an very affordable value of ₹1 for every seed.
In accordance to him, the freshly-produced cucumber is preferably suited for poly-home cultivation, as the fruit is harvested in immature stage and vertical peak of the poly-home composition can be utilised for the production of additional selection of fruiting nodes.
Fees and Returns
In India, cucumber is developed around 3 lakh hectares with a marketplace benefit of ₹60 crore for seeds both hybrid and usual. The Parthenocarpic cucumber hybrid is specialty section and its profitability has captivated numerous younger farmers to go for its cultivation. A 10 cent poly-home can generate 5 tonnes with a return of ₹3 lakh in 4 months at a promoting value of ₹60 for every kg, Pradeepkumar additional.
KPCH-one was produced by the University with a focused breeding programme in 2011. It was notified for Kerala by the Central Seed Committee in 2019. This is the only community sector hybrid in Parthenocarpic cucumber hybrids notified in India.
These new cucumber hybrids are now the most sought-following range of farmers in Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Lots of upcountry farmers have presently begun on-line procurement of seeds from KAU.
Aside from, the agricultural universities in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka have presently conducted trials with this hybrid range and discovered it to be outstanding to commercial hybrids in the non-public sector, Pradeepkumar claimed.
