Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences who were reached through this project during the past year were home gardeners who purchase seeds of new varieties, seed companies which develop and/or market seeds of varieties (chiefly through catalog sales), farmers who grow vegetable crops, and cooperative extension specialists. Seed companies who sent personnel to visit plots during the past year include Johnny's Selected Seeds, Winslow, ME; Hybrid Seed of New Zealand, High Mowing Organic Seeds in Walcott, Vermont, and Rupp Seeds of Waseon, Ohio. In addition, I visited Seneca Vegetable Research in Hall, NY. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students have assisted me part-time on my breeding projects during the past five years. Several undergraduate students have been hired as summer research assistants and for part-time work during the academic year, providing the students with hands-on experience in growing crops, collecting research data, and harvesting. In addition, several students have enrolled in special investigation projects tied to breeding research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Several newsletters describing cucurbit breeding research at UNH have been written and disseminated by the communication coordinator of the NH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture and reprinted in other media throughout New Hampshire and other New England states. In addition, one of the public TV stations in NH produced a short video on cucurbit breeding at UNH which has been featured several times. Much of the breeding research at UNH is disseminated by different seed companies in the variety descriptions in seed catalogs. In hull-less seeded pumpkins, I have been working closely with a food company in the Midwest with plans to produce and market hull-less pumpkin seeds. I work closely with several seed companies in the Northeast, and this involves continuous communication concerning development of new varieties which best serve the needs of the Northeastern U.S. in terms of pest resistance and grower and consumer demand. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There is an increasing emphasis on enhancing local production of fruits and vegetables as a means of sustaining food security in North America. As a result of this pursuit, local farm markets have greatly expanded in New England over the past 10 to 15 years. To sustain increased food production, growers must be profitable and consumers must be drawn towards purchase of local fruits and vegetables. A major incentive for customers to consume local produce is for obtaining better quality and a greater diversity of fruits and vegetables at local farmers markets. The breeding efforts with squash, pumpkins and melons at the University of New Hampshire are aligned with this vision, that of increasing the diversity of squash, pumpkin and melon varieties adapted to New England growning conditions, and developing varieties of squash and melon with better eating quality and nutrition. The release of over 50 varieties of cucurbits during the past 20 years, currently available through several catalog seed companies, validates that effort, largely supported by Hatch grants. The specific results of the breeding and genetic research described below fall within objective #1, Increasing the utilization efficiency of the germplasm collections through phenotypic and genotypic characterization and evaluation of the germplasm held in the collections for high-priority traits, especially resistances to biotic and abiotic stresses and nutritional traits. Melon breeding for the northeastern U.S. Over 25 melon hybrids, comprised of either one or two inbred lines developed at the University of New Hampshire, are currently being marketed, with most hybrids being offered by several major catalog seed companies in the Northeastern U.S. Eight hybrids, First Kiss, True Love, Shock Wave, Cleopatra, Milan, Afterglow, Ambassador, and Honey Sak have been released during the past five years, all with resistance to prevalent races of fusarium wilt and powdery mildew (PM) disease. Gynoecious (highly female) melon breeding lines with good external appearance and culinary traits have been developed for use as seed parents for reducing production costs for hybrid seed. These inbred lines have been tested in hybrid combinations, and are being distributed to interested seed companies for future use. Yellow summer squash with reduced spines. A glabrous mutant (gl-2) which largely eliminates the large, prickly spines (compound trichomes) on stems and leaf petioles of yellow summer squash was discovered in 1992, and through extensive breeding efforts this trait has been incorporated into improved inbred lines for developing hybrids of yellow straightneck (YSN) and crookneck (YCN) summer squash. The first hybrid variety, Slickpik® YS26, was released in 2009. More than 50 experimental hybrids, both YSN and YCN types with intermediate resistance to powdery mildew (PMR), have been evaluated for yield, and plant and fruit characteristics during the past five years. As a result, two new glabrous hybrids with improved fruit shape and PMR, 'Smooth Operator' and Blonde Beauty', were introduced by two seed companies in 2017. Kabocha/buttercup breeding. In the species C. maxima, the major objectives of the UNH breeding program have been to improve disease resistance, utilize bush genes to produce semi-bush hybrids, and to increase starch content, a key attribute associated with desirable texture and sweetness. Five semi-bush hybrids of green kabocha squash (Cucurbita maxima) have been released, and the current focus is developing kabocha germplasm with orange fruit pigmentation. Hybrids from this effort are continually being evaluated by several seed companies. Breeding acorn squash. Breeding efforts have resulted in the release of three hybrid acorn varieties with good eating quality and small fruit (600 to 800 g) designed for serving in the half shell. Popular commercial varieties with the standard fruit size (900 to 1100 g) for large wholesale distribution lack good eating quality because of low starch content (1.5 to 3%). Through breeding efforts during the past five years, we have developed inbred lines with large, attractive fruit that hold color well in storage, have starch contents between 8 to 13%, and intermediate PMR. Experimental hybrids developed from these breeding lines are being evaluated by seed companies in the Northeast for growth, pattern and timing of fruit set, fruit size, fruit yield, soluble solids content (SSC) and dry weight (% DW) of fruit, shelf life, and cooked culinary traits. Breeding butternut and related cultigens. In C. moschata, improvements in overall eating quality and nutrition, and better pest resistance have been identified as important goals, especially for popular butternut varieties. We have also initiated a breeding program to develop varieties with round fruit, similar in appeal to popular buttercup squash, but with much better pest resistance and shelf life. As a result of these efforts, one butternut variety, Gabrielle, and 'Butterkin, a variety with round, tan fruit, have been commercialized. Both varieties have intermediate PMR. New hybrids with round, green fruit and high starch content were evaluated in 2018 for disease resistance, appearance, nutritional status, and palatability. These new hybrids are resistant to squash vine borer and tolerant to squash bugs and PM disease, pests that plague buttercup/kabocha varieties. Ornamental pumpkins. Halloween is one of top three holidays in the U.S. for generating sales revenue for businesses, and pumpkin sales area a huge part of this revenue stream which supports local agriculture. To better serve growers and consumers with more pumpkin diversity, our pumpkin breeding program has expanded to develop pumpkins with unique rind colors. During the past five years, breeding lines developed at UNH have been utilized in the release of 8 new orange-fruited pumpkin hybrids, two yellow-fruited hybrids and two hybrids with white fruit. In addition, genes for striping patterns and orange/yellow bicolor pigmentation have successfully been introduced into several breeding lines, and hybrid combinations from these lines are being evaluated for possible introduction in the near future. All of these new breeding lines have intermediate PMR. Hull-less seeded pumpkin. There is expanded use of hull-less pumpkin seeds in North America as a snack seed, in confectionary, and in trail mixes; however, because of high production costs associated with harvesting and cleaning hull-less seeds, large-scale production in North America has not progressed. Currently, the NH-bred hybrid variety, 'Naked Bear', is the major, high yielding variety available to vegetable growers. Two additional NH hybrids, NH2020 and NH2022, are currently in production, one by an organic seed company and another by a food company in the Midwest.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences were: personnel from ten seed companies approximately 50 vegetable growers that attended a cucurbit workshop in Bow New Hampshire; approximately 40 persons who attended two presentations given on January 19, 2017 at the annual NOFA NY conference in Saratoga Springs, NY approximately 100 people in attendance for a presentation on squash given at the Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference in Philadelphia on Jan. 5, 2017. Changes/Problems: Using tissue culture, we have had success in obtaining a fertile interspecific hybrid between acorn squash (Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera) and butternut squash (C. moschata), and plan to utilize this germplasm for transferring some useful nutritional and cultinary traits between the two species. This research will likely involve several generations of breeding, and thus, additional funding will be sought to continue the research. In a similar vein, we have successfully crossed the wild species, C. lundelliana, with both C. moschata and C. maxima, and hope to utilize these crosses as a genetic bridge to attain higher levels of powdery mildew resistance in squash. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students have assisted me part time on my breeding projects. Several undergraduate students were hired as research assistants, part-time, during the academic year, providing hands-on experience in growing crops, collecting research data, and harvesting. In addition, two students enrolled in special investigation projects tied to breeding research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Several press releases describing cucurbit breeding research at UNH have been written and disseminated by the communications coordinator of the NH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture and reprinted in other media outlets throughout NH, regionally and nationally. Five presentations were given during 2017, two to organic growers, one to a professional audience, and two to a diverse group of vegetable growers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Hybrid combinations have to be continually evaluated in all of the current cucurbit breeding programs at the University of New Hampshire, including melons, summer squash, winter fresh market squash, winter processing squash, and ornamental pumpkin. Evaluation of most hybrids is done by several cooperating seed companies as well as in research plots at the NHAES. A more recent primary focus is developing butternut and related round-fruited strains with higher starch content and more rapid starch degradation to sugar during fruit maturation. This trait would facilitate the process of harvested-fruit to market in this species without the necessity of long and often costly storage times which are needed for some of the most popular varieties of this species. Continued breeding of ornamental pumpkins with different color and striping patterns is also a top priority because of the large fall market for such crops. Reducing abrasion injury in summer squash through development of glabrous (spineless) varieties continues to be a priority because of the poor appearance of yellow summer squash currently being marketed in North America.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Development of new varieties is akey underpinning for production of abundant and nutritious vegetables. Improved variety performance in terms of yield, quality and ease of culture is paramount. Better appearance and improved nutrition and eating quality increaseconsumer acceptance and demand for locally produced vegetables, thereby providing more income to growers and for regional seed companiesmarketing locally adapted varieties helps maintaintheir profitability. Over 25 melon hybrids, comprised of either one or two inbred lines developed at the University of New Hampshire, are currently being marketed, with most hybrids being offered by catalog seed companies in the Northeastern U.S. In 2017, two new NH hybrids, Honey Sak and Ambassador, were released for commercial sale. Gynoecious (highly female) melon breeding lines with good external appearance and culinary traits have been developed for use as seed parents for reducing production costs for hybrid seed. During the summer of 2017 we evaluated 35 experimental melon hybrids, including nine using gynoecious parents, six NH-derived varieties, and another commercial check. Six of the hybrids were given a high rating for appearance, productivity and eating quality, including four with gynoecious parentage. Milan, a new variety with NH parentage, performed very well, displaying early maturity, high yields and moderately high soluble solids content. Yellow summer squash has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the most poorly marketed vegetables throughout supermarkets in North America, due to variable fruit shape, abrasions on the surface of fruit, and poor display. A glabrous mutant which largely eliminates large spines on stems and leaf petioles was discovered in 1992, and through extensive breeding efforts, this trait has been incorporated into improved inbred lines for developing hybrids. Fruit harvested from glabrous hybrids are largely free from scratches, and skin irritation to harvesters is eliminated. The first hybrid variety, Slickpik® YS26, was released in 2009, and seed sales of this hybrid have expanded. New experimental hybrids continue to be evaluated for yield, and plant and fruit characteristics. In 2017, 38 hybrids were evaluated, including 35 carrying the glabrous gene. Two new glabrous hybrids with improved fruit shape and powdery mildew resistance, 'Smooth Operator' and Blonde Beauty', were introduced by two seed companies in 2017. Squash is a popular vegetable in the Northeast, but nonetheless, many current varieties lack acceptable eating quality and pest resistance. The major objectives of the UNH breeding program have being to improve disease resistance, utilize bush genes to produce semi-bush hybrids, and to increase starch content, the key factor associated with good eating quality. Five semi-bush hybrids of green kabocha squash (Cucurbita maxima) have been released during the past 20 years, and most of these have found use in local agriculture. Current breeding work with fresh market C. maxima is largely restricted to evaluation of orange-fruited hybrids derived from breeding lines in development over the past 20 years. In acorn squash (C. pepo), breeding efforts have resulted in the release of three hybrid varieties with good eating quality, but with small fruit (600 to 800 g) designed for individual serving in the half shell. Because many popular commercial varieties with large fruit lack good eating quality, we have developed breeding lines with both large fruit (900 to 1100 g) and high starch content. Ten new experimental hybrids were produced in spring of 2017, and these were evaluated at four locations throughout the Northeast during the summer of 2017. At the NHAES research farm these hybrids, along with check varieties, were evaluated for growth, pattern and timing of fruit set, soluble solids content (SSC) and dry weight (% DW) of flesh, fruit size, fruit yield, shelf life, and cooked culinary traits. The DW in the high-quality commercial check, 'Sugar Bush', averaged 18%, considered acceptable for good eating quality. In two popular commercial varieties widely grown for wholesale markets, DWs were, respectively, 10.0 and 10.5%. These low DW values equate to starch contents of less than 2.5%, unacceptable for good eating quality. On the other hand, the average fruit DW in eight of the experimental hybrids ranged from 19 to 25%, corresponding to starch contents between 9 and 16%, values associated with excellent eating quality. In C. moschata, improvements in overall eating quality and nutrition, and better pest resistance have been identified as important goals, especially for popular butternut varieties. We have also initiated a breeding program to develop varieties with round fruit, similar in appeal to popular buttercup squash, but with much better pest resistance and shelf life. Two important selection criteria for breeding are to identify lines and hybrids characterized by high starch and sugar content during fruit maturation, and high carotenoid content (orange flesh color) which is associated with greater amounts of lutein and β-carotene, important molecules in human nutrition. In 2017, 18 experimental butternut hybrids, 32 butternut breeding lines, 26 round-fruited breeding lines, and two F2 populations were evaluated for growth, flowering patterns, fruit maturity, and culinary traits of fruit. Five of the 18 experimental hybrids exhibited good fruit type, uniform fruit, early maturity and desirable culinary traits to qualify for additional evaluation in 2018 at different locations. After making selections from field plots based on fruit maturity, shape, and productivity, 270 self-pollinated fruit were selected for cooking tests. Approximately 30 butternut and 25 samples with round fruit were selected for field breeding populations in 2018. In greenhouse plantings during the winter/spring of 2018, several of the aforementioned selections will be used to produce experimental hybrids for field evaluation in 2018. Halloween is one of top three holidays in the U.S. for generating sales revenue for businesses, and pumpkin sales are a huge part of this revenue stream. Over 25 pumpkin hybrids containing NH germplasm have been released during the past 15 years, and in 2017, seed sales of these hybrids generated over $1,000,000 in revenue for seed companies. Farm revenue from these pumpkins would be several fold that of seed revenue. To better serve growers and consumers with more pumpkin diversity, our pumpkin breeding program has focused on developing pumpkins with unique rind colors and striping patterns. To date, two hybrids with yellow fruit and three with white fruit have been released, and several more are in the pipeline for commercial production within one to three years. In 2017, 60 experimental hybrids, including 42 new hybrids, were evaluated for size, shape, color, subtle fruit characteristics, maturity, and weight per plot. Several of these hybrids have been tentatively selected by commercial seed companies for introduction. There is expanded use of hull-less pumpkin seeds in North America as a snack seed, in confectionery, and in trail mixes, and food companies have indicated a desire to have a more reliable seed source from North America. During the past 10 years, several new hull-less seeded breeding lines have been developed at the University of New Hampshire which exhibit high seed yields, improved tolerance to fruit rots, and powdery mildew resistance. A new high yielding hybrid, Naked Bear, was introduced and offered in commercial catalogs in 2015. Another hybrid, NH2020, has performed well in eastern Oregon, central Illinois and in New Hampshire, and is scheduled for release in the near future. In 2017, six new hybrids were grown in test plots. Plant vigor, fruit yields and freedom from fruit rots were excellent in all hybrids, but seed cleaning of fruit to determine seed yields is still in progress.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences are personnel at seed companies responsible for producing and releasing new varieties of pumpkins,winter squash and summer squash developed at the University of New Hampshire, growers and home gardeners who purchase seeds and grow the varieties, and consumers who purchase fruits and vegetables. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students have assisted part time on my breeding projects. Undergraduate students are hired as research assistants, part-time during the academic year and full time during the summer, providing hands-on experience in growing crops, collecting research data, and harvesting. In addition, students have enrolled in special investigation projects tied to breeding research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Several newsletters describing cucurbit breeding research at UNH have been written and disseminated by the communications coordinator of the NH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture and reprinted in other media throughout New Hampshire and other New England states. In addition, one of the public TV stations in NH produced a short video on cucurbit breeding at UNH which was featured several times. Much of the breeding research at UNH is disseminated by different seed companies in the variety descriptions in seed catalogs. In hull-less seeded pumpkins, I have been working closely with the Cooperative Extension Service and a seed company in Oregon to introduce new seed pumpkin varieties into large-scale commercial production. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are in the third year of a project to introduce new striping patterns into ornamental pumpkins and are realizing that the task at hand is more daunting than originally envisioned. Although the genetics of most genes involved in skin color and striping patterns in the species Cucurbita pepo are understood, the large number of genes involved is large. This combined with the numerous genes involved in fruit size, stem or peduncle morphology, color retention and fruit shape, increase the complexity of developing new color and pattern combinations in large ornamental pumpkins. Yellow pumpkins in the larger size classes have been achieved and genetically uniform breeding lines for white pumpkins in the 15 to 25 pound size class should be attained during the summer/fall of 2017. In Cucurbita moschata, there is increased use of butternut varieties which can be peeled and used either directly for fresh market or diced for processing. A huge problem is the tendency of large butternuts to display excessive neck crooking, rendering them useless for peeling. Because of the demand for larger butternut squash, and the recent expansion of our breeding program into C. moschata cultigens for processing, we have embarked on a more vigorous breeding program to develop large butternuts with less propensity for crooking under different environmental conditions. As a result of previous research on carotenoid concentrations and profiles is squash, we have also markedly enhanced carotenoid concentrations, and specifically higher β-carotene concentrations, in several of the butternut breeding lines. It is anticipated that some of this new breeding stock can also contribute to our program to develop interspecific hybrids for the fresh market and processing. Although our melon breeding program is down-sized, we plan to continue three areas of breeding which are close to culmination: (1) develop more specialty melons adapted to the Northeast, including honeydew melons, Crenshaw melons and perhaps a few casaba or Canary type melons, and (2) develop melons with greater tolerance to sudden wilt, a soil borne disease that occurs under continuous use of land for melon production, and (3) introduce gynoecious breeding lines with improved culinary and appearance traits.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
There has been a long term project at UNH to develop gynoecious (highly female) lines as seed parents for reducing production costs for hybrid seed. Six gynoecious breeding lines with good appearance and eating quality have been developed and are being evaluated in hybrid combinations. During the summer of 2016 we evaluated 30 experimental melon hybrids, including six using gynoecious parents. Seven of the hybrids were given a high rating for appearance, productivity and eating quality, including three with gynoecious parentage. NH melon inbreds are being released to seed companies for use in hybrid combinations, and in 2016, three new hybrids were introduced, an early season, ribbed melon, Milan, a large, late season ribbed melon, Afterglow, and an early melon for local markets, Cleopatra. We have been developing breeding lines of yellow summer squash having a glabrous gene for reduced spines on stems. Several hybrids with intermediate powdery mildew resistance have been evaluated during the past three years in several regions of the Northeast. Three hybrids were released to different seed companies for production in 2015 and 2016, and one, Blonde Beauty is being marketed in 2016-2017. Development of improved varieties of winter squash at UNH involve the three major domesticated species. Five semi-bush varieties of green kabocha squash (C. maxima) have been released during the past 25 years and are still in commercial production. During the past 10 years we have concentrated on developing improved bush and vine breeding lines with orange fruit rind for producing F1 hybrids. Several hybrids with orange fruit have been evaluated during the past two years, and two hybrids that have received commercial attention are being evaluated more extensively in the future. In acorn squash (Cucurbita pepo), breeding efforts have resulted in the release of three varieties with good eating quality, but with small fruit size designed for individual serving for smaller families. Because of lack of quality in popular commercial varieties with large fruit, more recently we have concentrated on improving culinary quality and better rind color retention in breeding lines with large fruit. In 2016 several experimental hybrids were evaluated, including three hybrids with large fruit. One hybrid performed well and will be evaluated in 2017 at several locations. In C. moschata, we are developing both butternut and round-fruited lines with improved culinary qualities and powdery mildew resistance. In 2016, we evaluated 59 butternut and 43 round-fruited selections for fruit characteristics and culinary traits after cooking, with a focus on high content of dry matter, soluble solids and carotenoid pigments. Thirty five butternut and 20 round-fruited selections scored 14 to 15 on the Yolk Color Fan Scale, an indication of very high carotenoid and high β-carotene content. Thirty- two of the 102 total selections evaluated in cooking tests scored high for both % DW and carotenoid content, and had soluble solids content above 12%, indicating a high sugar content for good palatability. In ornamental pumpkin, 50 experimental hybrids along with five check varieties were evaluated by the lead investigator and several seed companies. Three new joint hybrids with a seed company were released in 2016, and an attractive, small pumpkin with white rind color was released in 2015 and offered for sale during spring of 2016. The project on breeding striped pumpkins is progressing well, but is a long term project because the genetics involved for combining genes for stripping patterns, strong stems, the bicolor trait and different fruit sizes is complex. Some breeding lines with fruit in the 2- to 4- pound class are uniform enough for generating experimental hybrids for evaluating in 2017.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences are personnel at seed companies responsible for producing and releasing new varieties developed at the University of New Hampshire, growers and home gardeners who purchase seeds and grow the varieties, and consumers who purchase fruits and vegetables. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students are hired as research assistants, part-time during the academic year and full time during the summer, providing hands-on experience in growing crops, collecting research data, learning breeding methods, and harvesting. In addition, students in an introductory horticulture are exposed to practical aspects of cucurbit plant breeding in a laboratory exercise. The breeding program also provides first-hand experience to graduate students active as research assistants during the summer. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?New germplasm was introduced at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable conference, in Hershey PA in 2015, which is a major meeting for growers in the Northeast. The PI also gave a presentation on the nuts and bolts breeding winter squash, at the NHAES Education session at the NH Farm and Forest Expo in February 2015. A YouTube video of this presentation has been viewed 83 times in the last seven months. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Hybrid combinations have to be continually evaluated in all of the current cucurbit breeding programs at the University of New Hampshire, including melons, summer squash, winter fresh market squash, winter processing squash, and ornamental pumpkin. A major new focus will be to develop butternut strains with larger fruit for the rapidly expanding processing industry that use such squash for peeling, dicing and frozen pack. Continued breeding of ornamental pumpkins with different color and striping patterns is a top priority because of the large fall market for such crops. Reducing abrasion injury in summer squash through development of glabrous (spineless) varieties continues to be a priority because of the poor appearance of yellow summer squash currently being marketed in North America. Several experimental hybrids of summer squash, winter squash and ornamental pumpkins will be produced in the greenhouse during the winter/spring of 2016, and these hybrids will be disseminated to several seed companies for evaluation.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Use of genetically female parents can markedly lower seed production costs of hybrid melon. The gynoecious trait was first introduced into New Hampshire melon lines in the early 1970s by utilizing genes derived from plant introduction accessions obtained through the USDA. Numerous backcrosses of female lines to lines with more acceptable fruit traits have been required to eliminate undesirable genes which were transferred from the original plant sources of genes for female flowering, a phenomenon called linkage drag. We have now successfully developed two green-fleshed lines and two orange-fleshed lines with good eating quality, appearance, and resistance to powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. These lines can be used directly for making hybrids or can be further improved for specific melon types with minimal additional breeding input. Development of traditional hybrids has continued, and three new varieties were introduced commercially in 2015, First Kiss, an early cantaloupe with medium size fruit, True Love, an early Athena-type melon, and Shockwave, a long shelf-life cantaloupe with higher sugar content than most varieties. There is expanded use of hull-less pumpkin seeds in North America as a snack seed, in confectionary, and in trail mixes. Several hull-less seeded breeding lines have been developed at the University of New Hampshire during the past 30 years which exhibit high seed yields and powdery mildew resistance. A plant introduction accession from Poland was instrumental in breeding for larger seed size and improved seed fill. A new high yielding hybrid, Naked Bear, was introduced and offered in commercial catalogs in 2015. Another variety, Camillo, jointly developed with a seed company, has been introduced into Europe and is being evaluated for introduction in North America. In yellow summer squash, a glabrous mutant was discovered in 1992, and through extensive breeding efforts, this trait has been incorporated into improved inbred lines. This trait largely eliminates the large trichomes (spines) on stems and petioles which irritates the skin of workers and results in unsightly abrasions to harvested fruit. In 2015, we tested 25 experimental hybrids carrying the glabrous trait and resistance to powdery mildew disease. Several of the hybrids looked promising for commercial use and two have been released to seed companies for commercial production, with anticipated introduction in 2016. Through breeding efforts initiated in 1996, several color and pattern traits were introgressed into egg and spoon gourds, along with the bush habit of growth and earlier maturity. Genes for different color and stripping patterns are currently being transferred from egg gourd lines into ornamental pumpkin. Pumpkin lines in the 1 to 4 pound class have now been developed with broad normal stripping patterns, but peduncle size and strength must be improved, along with improved color retention of stripping patterns. One new white pumpkin variety has been developed in a cooperative effort with a seed company, and additional white hybrids are slated for future release. Several breeding lines of bush and vine kabocha squash with orange fruit color were intercrossed to produce 12 new hybrids that were evaluated during the summer of 2015. Several of the hybrids were productive, had good fruit type, and compared favorably in cooking tests to some of the better standard comparator varieties. Six of these were selected for further field evaluation, and seed will be sent to several seed companies for more widespread evaluation in 2016. In acorn squash, we have developed and released three varieties with higher starch content and improved eating quality as compared to standard varieties. The objectives of current breeding work are to develop varieties with larger fruit and which retain color better during storage
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Loy. B. 2015. Lighting the Way with Sunlight, Moonlight, and Other New Cucurbit Varieties on the Horizon. Proceedings Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. Hershey, PA.
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences who were reached through this project during the past yearwere home gardeners who purchase seeds of new varieties, seed companies which develop and/or market seeds of varieties (chiefly through catalog sales), farmers who grow vegetable crops, and cooperative extension specialists. Home gardeners were provided a summary of germplasm improvement and development of new cucurbit varieties at a greenhouse openhouse in April of 2014. Farmers were given an overview of progress in developing improved varieties of ornamental pumpkins and squash in presentations given at the New England Vegetable and Fruit Meetings in Manchester, NH in December of 2013 and at a research field day at the NHAES Kingman in September 2014. In January of 2013, a presentation on eating quality and nutrition in acorn squash was made at the Northeast Regional meetings of the American Society for Horticultural Science. Throughout the year, weekly Emails were exchanged with several seed companies, informing them of new developments and giving descriptions of experimental hybrids available for evaluation. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One of the student research assistants on this project is majoring in sustainable agriculture, and has benefitted from assisting in data collection for evaluation of traits in various cucurbit breeding material, as well as gaining an understanding of how breeding research can lead to more productive and useful varieties. Another individual who minored in horticulture andserved as a research technician during the summer of 2014, now intends to pursue a MS degree in Plant Biology in the area of plant improvement. This person has also gained an appreciation for the traits involved in eating quality and nutrition in squash. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In December of 2013, presentations were given at the New England Fruit and Vegetable Meetings in Manchester, NH attended by over 1200 growers. One presentation updated the progress in developing and releasing new varieties of ornamental pumpkins; in a second talk I summarized information on the nutritional content and eating quality in squash. In January of 2014, I presented a talk on improving eating quality in acorn squash to professional horticulturists at the Northeast meeting of the American Society of Horticultural Science held in Philadelphia, PA.Also, in January, I prepared several summaries of my breeding efforts in cucurbits for seed companies with which I work closely or which are funding some of my research efforts. An overview of the cucurbit breeding results at the University of New Hampshire was presented to numerous home gardeners attending the Plant Biology Greenhouse Open house in April of 2014. In September of 2014, a summary of my breeding research was presented to growers, seed representatives and cooperative extension agents attending a twilight meeting at the Kingman Research Farm funded by the NHAES. Also, in September of 2014, I hosted visits from representitives of several seed companies supplying vegetable varieties for use in North America. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Hybrid combinations have to be continually evaluated in all of the current cucurbit breeding programs at the University of New Hampshire: melons, summer squash, winter fresh market squash, winter processing squash, and ornamental pumpkin. A major new focus will be to develop large butternut strains for the rapidly expanding processing industry that usesuch hybrids for peeling for fresh market and processing. The currently available varieties for this use are susceptible to developing excessive crooking of the necks, markedly reducing usable fruit yield.TheUniversityof New Hampshire has germplasm which may allow this problem to beovercome withcreative breeding efforts.Continued breeding of ornamental pumpkins with different color and striping patterns is a top priority because of the large fall market for such crops.Reducing abrasion injury in summer squash through adoption of glabrous (spineless) varieties is also a major goal because of the poorappearance ofyellow summer squash currently being marketed in North America.More glabrous yellow summer squash hybrids need to be evaluated for expanding the number of varieties adapted to different growing regions. Several experimental hybrids will be produced in the greenhouse during the winter/spring of 2015, and these hybrids will be disseminated to several seed companies for evaluation. Although we have introduced over 20 new melon hybrids which are being grown in the Northeast, there is still a lack of diversity in specialty melonsadapted to growing conditions in the Northeastand suitablefor local retail markets.We have also encountered a serious problem in melons called sudden wilt that is compromising our breeding program at the Kingman Research Farm. Tolerance to sudden wilt has been found in a few melon lines, and we will initiate a small breeding effort to develop inbred lines with reasonable resistance to the disease, as well as try to identify the pathogen inciting the problem.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Development of new varieties has been a key underpinning for production of abundant and nutritious vegetables in North America. With increasing land prices and increased costs associated with inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and labor, improved variety performance in terms of yield, quality and ease of culture is paramount to successful farming. Current breeding programs associated with this project are focused on reducing farm use of pesticides by incorporating better disease resistance into new varieties, and reducing labor and use of chemicals for weed control by developing varieties with a more compact and upright growth habit for better weed control through cultivation. An importantmethod for use in reducing the cost of hybrid seed production in melon is to employ female parents inhybrid production which aregynoecious, or largely produce only femaleflowers. In melon, the gynoecious(female flowering)trait was developed in New Hampshire melon lines in the early 1970s by utlizing genes for monoecious and perfect flowering from plant introduction accessions.Numerous backcrosses of female lines to acceptable parentage have been required to eliminate undesirable genes which were transferred from the original plant sources of genes for female flowering, a phenomenon called linkage drag.We have now successfully developed one Galia (green fleshed) inbred and two cantaloupe inbred lines with good eating quality, appearance, and resistance to powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. These lines can be used directly for making hybrids or can be further improved for specific melon types with minimal additional breeding input. Hull-less pumpkin seeds are an important oil seed crop in Eastern Europe, and are used in North America as a snack seed and in trail mixes. Several hull-less seeded breeding lines have been developed at the University of New Hampshire during the past 30 years, as a result of combining germplasm from various sources, including aplant introduction accession from Poland which was instrumental in breeding for larger seed size and improved seed fill. The inbred lines developed at UNH have been used for producing F1 hybrids, twoof which were previously commercialized.In 2014, we evaluated 8 semi-bush experimental hybrids, seven of which had powdery mildew resistance. Seed fill was excellent and seed size good (161 to 222 mg) in all hybrids. Plot yields among the hybrids, extrapolated to an acre basis, ranged from 1944 to 2639 pounds of hull-less seed, the highest yields we have obtained in hull-less pumpkins, comparable or higher than yields obtained in other oil seed crops. In yellow summer squash, a glabrous mutant was discovered in1992 in a relic variety, and this trait has been utilized at the University of New Hampshire to develop improved inbred lines for producing hybrids, one of which was released in 2009. This trait largely eliminates the large trichomes (spines) on stems and petioles which irritates the skin of workers and results in unsightly abrasions to harvested fruit. In 2014, we tested 22 experimental hybrids carrying the glabrous trait and resistance to powdery mildew disease. Several of the hybrids looked promising for commercial use and one has been released to a seed company for commercial production. Prior to 1996, the white nest egg gourd was arare variety, late in maturity and relatively unproductive. Through breeding efforts at the University of New Hampshire, several color and pattern traits have been introgressed into egg gourd, along with the bush habit of growth and earlier maturity. A multiline variety released from this effort is called Goblin nest egg gourd. The color and pattern genes are currently being transferred from egg gourd lines into ornamental pumpkin, and in 2014, pumpkins in the 500 to 2000 g size class were obtained with multiple color and striping combinations. Several bush breeding lines within the species Cucurbita maxima have been developed over the past 45 years through breeding efforts at the University of New Hampshire. This work has resulted in a bush, uprighthabit of growth in inbred lines for processing, and such inbreds can be used for creating productive hybrids. Several bush lines of kabocha (buttercup) squash for the fresh market have also been developed, and haveresulted in the introduction of four hybrid varieties being commercially marketed. During the past few years we have successfullybreda kabocha line which hasa robust, upright leaf canopy similar to that expressed in the processing squash. This traitwas expressed in some of the hybrid combinations evaluated in 2014,and appears to be an important trait for increasing productivity.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Loy, B. 2014. Breeding for improved eating quality in acorn squash. HortScience 49(9):S10.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Loy, B. 2013. The nuts and bolts of fruit quality in cucurbits, p. 201-204. Proc. New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference, December 17-19, Manchester, NH.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Loy. B. 2013. New Innovations in pumpkins. New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference, December 19, Manchester, NH.
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