The cucumber is indigenous to India. It is commonly cultivated by seeds. The prices of hybrid cucumber seeds were about thrice compared to seeds of open pollinated varieties. The cucumber hybrids are developed by hybridizing gynoecious lines with monoecious lines. After removal of anthers in the female lines, pollination was carried out by bees. Two to three bee hives per acre are installed for effective pollination and fruit set. The ratio between female and male lines in the field should be 3:1. Well matured fruits at 65 days after anthesis are separated from the plant for extraction of seeds. Minimum isolation distance of 1000m from other cucurbits is needed for certified seeds and 1500m for foundation seeds. Haploids were produced by growing of anthers in the growing media added with 2,4, D and BA at different combinations through somatic embryogenesis.
Propagation Techniques, Cucumber, Cucumis sativus
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