Growth, Yield And Postharvest Quality Of Eleven Greenhouse Cucumber Cultivars Grown In Soilless Media

Cucumber is one of the most important vegetables grown in greenhouses around the world. Finding suitable and adaptable heat tolerant greenhouse varieties is a major constraint to greenhouse producers in Trinidad. A greenhouse experiment was conducted at the University Field Station, Valsayn to evaluate eleven heat tolerant (5 gynoecious and 6 parthenocarpic) varieties of cucumber (Marketmore 76, Decathlon, Kalima, Keish, Cherokee and 6 other Chinese varieties - Kayla, Long John, Nile, Groovy, Ethel and Spikey). The results of the study revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) among the varieties in terms of vine length, number of branches, leaf area, number of fruit per plant and total fruit weight per plant. The highest fruit yield per plant was obtained from the Chinese varieties, which consistently had higher yields than the other varieties. Postharvest evaluation conducted 8 days after storage at 10°C resulted in fruits maintaining their firmness and colour characteristics. There was also no significant difference among the eleven varieties during sensory evaluation. All varieties had ratings of 2.0 to 6.8, signifying poor to good taste. The Chinese varieties performed the best in this trial. The data should especially be valuable when evaluating yield, fruit length, colour and powdery mildew tolerance.