CGC3-37

Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 3:66-67 (article 37) 1980

The Cucumis Species Collection at the IVT

D. L. Visser and A. P. M. den Nijs

Institute for Horticultural Plant Breeding (IVT), Wageningen, The Netherlands

A Cucumis species collection has been built up at our institute in the past three years to provide a basis for the species crossing program. At this time our collection consists of 118 examined accessions of 13 species. Except for C. melo L. and C. sativus L., nearly all the material originates, as far as we know, from the African continent. One of the exceptions is a feral accession of C. dipsaceus Spach. Which was collected at Curacao. About 30% of our collection was obtained from the USDA PI collections at Experiment (GA, USA) and Ames (IA, USA), and about as many came from a number of botanical gardens. The remaining part resulted from exchanges with institutes, universities, or research workers. Until now, the collection was gathered without collecting trips. Because of this, we generally lack specific data on the origin of the material or how it was maintained. As it is indispensable for our taxonomical research and species crossing program to dispose of diversity within a species, we like to have accessions of different origin. Among nine accessions of C. africanus L. f., only three PI numbers are of known origin (3). It is not known from how many sources the other six accessions originate.

The correct classification of Cucumis species is a recurring nightmare to anyone working with this material (see e.g. 3). It is, therefore, not remarkable that many samples are misclassified. For our collection, every seed sample is first grown in the glasshouse to check its botanical name and to evaluate the special characters of the accession. ONly thereafter is the accession introduced into the collection. Each sample is documented by a herbarium sheet with seedling, young and older leaves, shoot and flowers. Individual mature fruits are photographed. Mature fruits of each species are preserved in a spirit collection, whereas those of deviating accessions are stored separately. It is not always possible to identify an accession in one season, and in doubt of purity, we like to see offspring. The value of these observations is illustrated by the fact that 30% of all samples needs to be reclassified.

Only a species such as C. metuliferus Naud. is sufficiently distinct to prevent misclassification. In all the other species misclassifications occur. Renamed accessions have been included in Table 1 as: 'formerly...' The wild cucumber with small, sub-globose to ellipsoidal bitter fruits is tested as a variety of C. sativus L. based on the restricted description of Gabaew (2). The reason for this is that we agree with e.g. Robinson and Kowalewski (6), That on the basis of crossability, C. hardwickii Royle belongs within the species C. sativus L. and is sufficiently distinct as a subspecies. The C. sativus accessions in the tables are all non-cultivated, small fruit specimens which sometimes run wild in South Asia. Cultivars are not included in this list, as is true for melons. Since there is no good dividing line between wild, feral, and cultivated melons, the feral and wild forms have been listed as just C. melo L. The classification C. melo var. agrestis Naud. (4) was only used for specimens with small (up to 6 cm long) dark green fruits that do not change color at maturity. Because we do not have clarity as yet about the taxonomic status of the species C. callous (Rottl.) Cogn., C. trignonus Roxb., and C. prophetarum L., these three taxa have not yet been included in the table (3).

Seed is increased by selfs and crosses through hand pollination on three plants in an insect-proof glasshouse. Seed from the resulting is combined and stored in one sample.

Many accessions have now been tested for their resistance against cucumber green mottle virus (CGMV) black root rot (Phomopsis sclerotioides) and root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita acrita and M. javanica). The results are summarized in Table2. All tested accessions of C. africanus L. f. and C. anguria L. are resistant to CGMV. The results of C. figarei Naud. are not yet clear and within C. ficifolius A. Rich., we found one out of two accessions resistant. All accessions of the other species are susceptible. For black root rot, no resistance was observed in any of the tested material. The level of resistance to nematodes varies within the species. The highest level of resistance has been found in C. metuliferus Naud., but a number of accession within this species have partial resistance. None proved absolutely resistant. Fassuliotis (1) and Pitrat and Dumas de Vaulx (5) found resistance in C. metuliferus. The level of resistance in most accessions of C. africanus L.f. is rather high, as it is in C. ficifolius A. Rich. and C. heptadactylus Naud.

Powdery mildew resistance was evaluated following natural infestation at the end of the growing season. There appears to be a wealth of resistance to powdery mildew in the wild material. Our results largely concur with the observations of Pitrat and Dumas de Vaulx (5). Their results indicated C. anguria is susceptible whereas our five tested accessions of this species appear resistant.

For exchange, seed sample numbers have been included in Table 1 after the genebank number. As the wild species of the PI collections are readily available, these accessions have not been included in this list.

Table 1. Review of the Cucumis species collection at the IVT.

Botanical name	Gene bank no.	Seed sample no.	Source	Country of origin	Remarks (concerning fruits or names)
Cucumis africanus L. f.	0162	C77152	Naaldwijk¹- The Netherlands	-	segregating, contam. with C. dipsaceus
"	0181	C78341	Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	0330	C78339	Coimbra - Portugal	-	formerly C. anguria
"	1773	C78343	Copenhagen - Denmark	-	formerly C. anguria
"	1780	C78342	Basel - Switzerland	-
"	1969	C79229	Ege Univ. Izmir - Turkey	-
C. anguria L.	0114	C79220	Burpee - USA	USA	cultivated
"	0198	C78338	Pisa - Italy	-	formerly C. anguria longipes
"	1735	C78375	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	Africa	formerly C. myriocarpus
"	1758	C78340	Kew - England	-
"	1970	C79232	Annamalai Univ. - India	-	segregating slightly
"	1978	C79237	Liverpool - England	-
C. anguria var. longipes A. Meeuse	1736	C78363	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	Africa	formerly C. prophetarum
"	1784	C79239	Kiev - USSR	-	segregating, some C. anguria types formerly C. myriocarpus fruit fully round, small
"	1827	C79238	R. Lower, NCSU - USA	-
C. dipsaceus Spach.	0163	C79260	Naaldwijk¹ - The Netherlands	-
"	1728	C78206	IVT - collection	Curacao
"	1733	C79262	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	Africa
"	1774		Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	1783	C79263	Kiev - USSR	-	formerly C. anguria
"	1983	C79264	Montfavet³ - France	Ethiopia
C. ficifolius A. Rich.	1828	C79267	R. Lower, NCSU - USA	-
C. figarei Naud.	1706	C77168	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	Sudan	formerly C. callosus
C. melo L.	1754	C78372	Leiden - The Netherlands	Vilmorin	formerly C. species
"	1755		Leiden - The Netherlands	Vilmorin	formerly C. species
"	1766	C78216	Osm. Univ. Hyderabad - India	-	formerly C. sativus ( Indian Cucumber)
"	1767	C78215	Osm. Univ. Hyderabad - India	-	formerly C. sativus
"	1817	C79280	Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	-	formerly C. melo var. agrestis
"	1819	C79281	Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	W. Africa	formerly C. melo var. agrestis
"	1820	C79282	Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	S. Africa	formerly C. melo var. agrestis
C. melo var. agrestis Naud.	1165	C78349	IVT - collection	N. Nigeria
"	1743	C78277	- Turkey	-	formerly C. callosus
"	1756	C78373	IVT - collection	Senegal	formerly C. species
"	1757	C78344	Canberra - Australia	Queensland	formerly C. anguria
"	1777		Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	1818	C79283	Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	-
"	1821	C79284	Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	Afghanistan
"	1987	C79285	Montfavet³ - France	Togo	formerly C. prophetarum
C. metuliferus Naud	0164	C77165	Naaldwijk¹ - The Netherlands	-
"	0256		Besancon - France	-
"	1734	C78351	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	Africa
"	1747	C77352	Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	-
"	1768	C78353	Dep. Pl. Biol. Birmingham - England	-
"	1771		Dr. Provvidenti, Geneva - USA	-
"	1775		Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	1822	C79289	Frankfurt - BRD	-
C. metuliferus Naud.	1825	C79290	R. Lower, NCSU - USA	-
"	1833	C70291	Salisbury - Zimbabwe	-
"	1836	C78318	Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	1837	C79297	Mr. Howel - England	-
"	1985	C79298	Montfavet³ - France	-
"	1994	C79299	Mr. Mackiewicz - Poland	local market Georgia
C. myriocarpus Naud	0165		Naaldwijk¹ - The Netherlands	-
"	0182	C78354	Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	0184		Kew - England	-
"	0202	C78355	Poznan - Poland	-
"	0203	C78356	Cluy - Romania	-
"	0258	C78381	Besancon - France	-	formerly C. prophetarum
"	0335		Coimbra - Portugal	-
"	1737		Lyon - France	-	formerly C. prophetarum
"	1742		Lodz - Poland	-
"	1750		Gatersleben⁴ - DDR	-
"	1763		Gottingen - BRD	-
"	1776	C78226	Copenhagen - Denmark	-
"	1778		Kosice - CSSR	-
"	1779	C78347	Kosice - CSSR	-	formerly C. dipsaceus
"	1838		Debrecen - Hungary	-
"	1986		Montfavet² - France	-
C. sativus L.	1592	A68040	IVT- collection	Egypt
"	1713	C77169	Mr. Kohli - India	Himalaya
"	1745	C79387	Dr. de Ruiter, The Netherlands	India	formerly C. sativus var. hardwickii
"	1759	C79321	Mr. Kohli - India	-	formerly C. sativus var. hardwickii
"	1772	C79305	IVT collection	Suriname
"	1829	C79306	R. Lower, NCSU-USA	-	PI 271337, small fruit selection
"	1830	C79307	R. Lower, NCSU-USA	-	PI 271338, large fruit sel., segregating
"	1964	C79315	Pretoria - South Africa	-
C. sativus var. hardwickii Alef.	1953	C79389	India	-	formerly C. species
"	1811	C79317	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	India	long fruits
"	1823	C79318	R. Lower, NCSU-USA	-
"	1963	C78384	Pretoria - South Africa	-	variety "Hanzil"
C. sativus var. sikkimensis Hook.	0368	C78369	IARI - India	-
"	1764	C78370	Liverpool - England	-	fruit size segregating slightly
"	1977	C79324	Liverpool - England	-	fruit size segregating slightly
C. sativus var. squamosus Gab.	1812	C78383	Vavilov Leningrad² - USSR	India	var. "Khira Cheshuichatyi"

Only a place-name as source means the Botanical Garden of that town.
¹ Glasshouse Crops Research and Experimental; Station.
² Vavilov All Union Institute of Plant Industry.
³ Station d'Amelioration des Plantes Maraicheres.
⁴ Zentralinstitut fur Genetik and Kulturpflanzenforschung.

Table 2. Results of disease resistance tests.

	Number of accessions
		CGMV		BRR	Nematodes				Powdery mildew
Species	CSC	R	S	S	0/1	1	2	3	0	1	2
Cucumis africanus L.f.	9	8		7		4	1		5
C. anguria L. var. anguria	8	7		5			2	2	5
C. anguria var. longipes A. Meeuse	3		1	2				1	1
C. dipsaceus Spach.	8		6	6			4	2	6
C. ficifolius A. Rich.	5	1	1	3		2	1		1
C. figarei Naud.	2	(1)		2				1		1
C. heptadactylus Naud.	1			1		1
C. meeusii C. Jeffrey	1			1			(1)				1
C. melo L.	12		3	3					3	2	3
C. melo var. agrestis Naud.	10		3	6				(2)		1	7
C metuliferus Naud.	16		12	11	1	1	5		8	2
C. myriocarpus Naud.	18		11	11			1	2	3	6	1
C. sativus L.	11		8	1						1	3
C. sativus var. hardwickii Alef.	5		4	1			1			1	4
C. sativus var. sikkimensis Hook.	5		4								3
C. sativus var. squamosus Gab.	1		1								1
C. zeyheri Sond.	3		1	3					1

CSC: Cucumis species collection; CGMV: Cucumis green mottle mosaic virus, R: resistant, S: susceptible; BRR: black root rot, number of tested accessions; Nematodes: 0/1-highly resistant, 3-highly susceptible; Powdery Mildew: 0-no mildew, 2-heavy sporulation; ( ): limited information.

Literature Cited

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