Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 11:vi-viii (introduction) 1988

Introduction

Report of the 11th Annual Meeting

The 11th Annual Business Meeting of the Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative was held on November 11, 1987, in conjunction with the 84th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Horticultural Science and the 34th Annual Congress of the Inter-American Society for Tropical Horticulture, at Orlando, Florida. The meting was called to order by J.D. McCreight, chairman. Thirty-four members and guests were in attendance.

CGC Report No. 10 (1987) was mailed to members on June 15. This was about one month earlier than No. 9 was mailed in 1986. The cost of printing and mailing CGC 10 was $1,247.32. Fifty copies each of CGC Reports 5 and 6 were printed at a cost of $435.47.

Cash reserve at the time of the meeting was $2,073.13. This will increase greatly in 1988 when approximately half the membership will renew their memberships.

Total membership was 202; 102 from the U.S. and 100 from all other countries. Thirty-four members and guests were in attendance.

Several members reported numerous requests by nonmembers for copies of their CGC Reports, and that university libraries were not aware of the publication or how to obtain it for their collections. They suggested that CGC solicit Land Grant university library memberships in order to preserve their personal copies and generate additional revenue for CGC.

Gene curators reported poor response from members for seeds of genetic stocks.

On behalf of Dick Robinson, Henry Munger discussed botanical nomenclature, specifically unnecessary changes in nomenclature of horticultural by taxonomists. It was suggested that CGTC make two proposals to the American Society for Horticultural Science: one, that ASHS adopt the nomenclature proposed by Smith and Welch for horticultural crops (1964. Proceedings of the American Society for Horticultural Science 84:535-548); and two, that ASHS be consulted bay the Botanical Congress prior to any formal changes in nomenclature of horticultural crops.

Note from the Chairman

Effective at the 1988 annual business meeting, Timothy J. Ng will assume chairmanship of the Coordinating Committee of the CGC. It has been a pleasure to serve as Chairman during the last four years. CGC will continue to grow and through its Report serve a valuable rate for cucurbit research.

• James D. McCreight

All future CGC correspondence should be sent to the attention of:

• Tim Ng
• Dept. of Horticulture
• University of Maryland
• College Park, MD 20742-5611

Comments from the CGC Coordinating Committee

The Call for Papers for the 1989 Report will got out in August 1988. Papers should be submitted to the respective Coordinating Committee members by 31 December 1988. The Report will be published by July 1989.

We are eager to hear from the membership regarding the future direction of CGC. Timothy J. Ng was responsible for final editing, printing and mailing of CGC Report No. 11. We look forward to his tenure as Chairman and Editor of CGC.

Coordinating Committee:

• G.W. Elmstrom (muskmelon)
• W.R. Henderson (watermelon)
• J.A. Juvick (Cucurbita spp.)
• T.C. Wehner (cucumber)
• J.D.McCreight, Chairman

CGC in Europe - CUCURBITACEAE 88

A meeting of CGC for European members was held at the EUCARPIA meeting on Genetics of Breeding of Cucurbitaceae, Centre de Recherches Agronomiques, Montfavet, France on 2 June 1988. Fifty-0four members and non-members were in attendance. J.D. McCreight summarized the origins of CGC and its current status, and emphasized that the purpose of CGC was to foster technical communication of cucurbit genetics and breeding research through brief reports and germplasm exchange. Because approximately half the CGC membership is non-US, more active involvement of non-US members is sought. Several suggestions to facilitate this goal were made: (1) include information on cucurbit meetings held around the world, including abstracts, summaries, and person(s) to contact for details; (2) have an option, for an increased membership fee, of sending the CGC Report via air mail to non-US members; and (3) encourage more activity in germplasm exchange, especially genetic markers, linkage stocks maintenance, and the development of monosomics and trisomics.

1988 Watermelon Workshop

The eighth annual meeting of the Watermelon Workshop was held in conjunction with the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans on 2 February 1988. The meeting was well attended with 35 to 40 participants.

The following presentations were made at the meeting:

1. Ray Martyn - An initial survey of geographic isolates (races) of the watermelon wilt Fusarium in the U.S.
2. Tim Conaty - an electron microscope study of the microsporogenesis and embryo sac formation of a male sterile watermelon.
3. Billy Rhodes - a putative tetrasomic watermelon line.

Gil Lovell and Joe Norton discussed a grant proposal for germplasm maintenance and evaluation. Dr. Norton proposes to increase 450 watermelon PIs over a period of 5 years, determine descriptor for each, and evaluate for resistance to gummy stem blight, anthracnose, and rootknot nematode. The watermelon Research Group asked the Vine Crop Advisory Committee to recommend the proposal to the U.S.D.A. for funding.

Meetings

The twelfth annual Meeting of the Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative will be held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the American Society for Horticultural Science at Michigan State University in EAst Lansing, Michigan, 8-11 August 1988.

Other meetings of interest to CGC members:

Group	Date & Location	Contact Person
National Muskmelon Research Group	29-30 August 1988 Ithica, New York	Dr. Henry M. Munger 405 Bradfield Hall Cornell University Ithica, New York 14853 (607) 255-1661
Squash Breeders	29-30 August 1988 Ithica, New York
Pickling Cucumber Improvement Committee	10-11 November 1988 Madison, Wisconsin	Dr. Jack Staub, ARS/USDA Department of Horticulture Unversity of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Phone: (608) 262-0028
Vine Crops Advisory Committee	9 November 1988 Madison, Wisconsin
Watermelon Research Group	7 February 1989 Nashville, Tennessee	Dr. Gary Elmstrom Univ. Florida - IFAS Agricultural Research & Educ. Center, Leesburg, Box 388 Leesburg, FL 32749-0388 Phone: (904) 787-3423