Early diagnosis of cucumber plants resistance to low light

Relevance. When growing cucumbers in a greenhouse not equipped with additional lighting, especially in winter, there is a shortage of solar energy. To obtain high yields of cucumber at this time, it is necessary to select the most resistant to low light hybrids. The selection of genotypes resistant to this trait is a very important stage in the selection of cucumber for winter-spring turnover. The purpose of the study: search for an easy-to-use method for early diagnosis of cucumber resistance to insufficient illumination. Methods. The research was carried out at the variety testing site in the Gavrish Breeding Center (Krymsk city) of the Scientific Research Institute of Vegetable Crop Breeding, in winter-spring turnover conditions, in greenhouses not equipped with artificial lighting. Seedlings were planted in a permanent place in the greenhouse during the period of the lowest arrival of solar radiation in the year on December 21. The measurement of the height of the main stem was carried out on 31 days after planting the plants in a permanent place. Results. Measuring the height of the main stem before fruiting showed a significant variation of this trait in different cucumber hybrids. Further study of the correlation of the height of the main stem and yield revealed their high dependence. This fact suggests that a fairly simple measurable parameter has been found for evaluating different cucumber genotypes on the basis of resistance to low light. Regression analysis made it possible to divide the variability of the studied genotypes by yield into a dependent part of the height of the main stem and an additional one, which makes up to 30% of the yield increase. Further analysis of the high-yielding group has a high breeding value.