The production system of hybrid cucumber seeds are described here. As hybrids have good market demands so the quality production of F1 high yielding seeds will be economical. Here the best methodologies are described.

1. Hybrid Variety Development
and Seed Production of
Cucumber
Name: Sheikh Ashikur Rahman
ID No: MS-180707

2. Hybrid Variety
A hybrid variety is created when plant breeders
intentionally cross-pollinate two different
varieties of a plant, aiming to produce an
offspring, or hybrid, that contains the best traits
of each of the parents.
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3. Cucumber
• Cucumber is a member of Cucurbitaceae
family comprising 90 genera and 750
species.
• Scientific name: Cucumis sativus
• Cucumber is an annual and day neutral
plant.
• It is consumed as salad or in pickled form.
Cucumber is a high water content
vegetable and is mainly used as refreshing
condiment.
• Considerable heterosis has been
manifested in cucumber for various traits
such as number of fruits, early and high
yield.
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4. Hybrid Variety Development
• Cucumber is primarily an insect pollinated
crop. Therefore, while selfing or crossing bees
should be excluded to prevent pollen
contamination. For the purpose of hybrid seed
production gynoecious lines are used. Since,
gynoecious lines bear 100 per cent female
flowers, therefore, any seed obtained from
them is F1 hybrid.
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5. • If hybrid seed production is to be carried out
by hand pollination, the flower to be pollinated
should be covered before anthesis to prevent
insect pollination . Male flowers can also be
covered a day before anthesis.
• The hand pollinated flowers are bagged and
tagged to protect from insect pollination and
easy identification.
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6. • Hybrids of cucumber are produced mainly by
crossing gynoecious lines with monoecious
lines.
• Though, other systems of producing
gynoecious hybrid seed such as gynoecious x
gynoecious have been proposed but
gynoecious x monoecious hybrids are still the
most widely grown (Robinson, 1999).
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7. Figure : Hand pollination
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8. Techniques for Bulk Production
of Seeds
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9. Land Requirements:
• No special land requires but should be free of
volunteer plants
• Soils should be well drained
Isolation Requirements:
Proper isolation distance (minimum of 500
meter) all around seed field is required for pure
seed production to separate it from other
varieties
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10. Time of Sowing:
February to March is the best time for seed
sowing ( Source: BARC).
Seed Rate:
2.5 to 3.5 kg seed is required for one hectare
of land
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11. Land Preparation and Sowing:
• Twenty cm raised and 1 m width beds are to be
prepared depending upon the land size
• Pits should be 40 x 40 x 30 cm in size, 1.5 m
apart in a single line along the bed
• 2 seeds should be sowed in each pits
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12. Fertilizer Dose and Application Method:
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13. Irrigation:
8 to 10 days after sowing
Inter-culture:
Net–wire or thin rope of
jute and bamboo may be
used as trellis or macha as
support
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14. Sex Expression :
3ppm of ethrel or 3 ppm of boron suppress the number of male flowers and
increase the number of female flowers
Insect and Disease Control:
For insect :
Chemical control:
Red pumpkin beetle: kerosenised ash
Aphids: malathion or folidol
Biological control: Trapping, Using parasitic wasps to control aphids, or by
using pheromones.
For diseases:
Downy mildew: tri basic copper sulfate
Angular leaf spot: streptomycin
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15. Figure : Red Pumpkin Beetle Figure : Downy mildew
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16. Rouging:
Off type plants obviously should be carried out before flowering and
natural cross pollination
Harvesting and Extraction of Seeds:
Ready to harvest when fruits turn into pale yellow or golden
Extraction is done in three ways:
1.Fermentation: pulp is fermented in wooden barrel, after several days
stirring causes removal of fermented pulp and seeds are separated
2.Mechanical: fruits are cut and macerated in a machine , pulp is
squeezed to separate seeds
3.Chemical: HCl or ammonia is stirred along with water into the pulp
and mature seeds will sink to the bottom
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17. Storage:
Seeds are washed and dried to moisture
content below seven percent and stored in a
cool, well ventilated place
Seed Yield:
Average 110-130 kg per hectare
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18. Thanks to All
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