New funding from USDA-SCRI will extend the CucCAP project for four years

“CucCAP2: Harnessing genomic resources for disease resistance and management in cucurbit crops – bringing the tools to the field”, will focus on the development of advanced genomic, bioinformatic and breeding tools; disease resistant materials; disease management strategies and economic analyses for critical diseases threatening cucurbit production.

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CucCAP researchers perform economic analysis on production costs and disease control for cucurbit crops

CucCAP economists developed models showing potential for economic returns for cucurbit crops in multiple production regions.  Economic variables such as interest rates, input costs, production windows and existing crop budgets were collected to develop representative farms for production of cucurbit crops.

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CucCAP scientists uncover the genetic basis of unique horticultural traits in the multi-disease resistant cucumber germplasm line WI2757

CucCAP researchers conducted molecular mapping using populations involving WI2757, and uncovered a large paracentric inversion of about 10 megabases in length on cucumber chromosome 1 of WI2757 and found that inversion region harbors genes or quantitative trait loci for fruit length, diameter, fruit shape, fruit number, and flowering time.

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CucCAP researchers provide updated disease control information for cucurbit growers

CucCAP Vegetable Pathology and Crop Production Extension Specialists published plant disease management reports and Cucurbit cultigen evaluations from recent field trials. These reports provide valuable information for cucurbit crop producers, seed companies and other CucCAP stakeholders.

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CucCAP scientists provide inventory of genes and QTL for cucumber breeding and genetics community

CucCAP scientists and collaborators provide an extensive review of the literature to systematically document genes for simply inherited traits, QTL for 130 quantitative traits, and develop recommendations for QTL nomenclature in cucumber. In a separate study, researchers conducted comparative analysis on the genetic basis of fruit size and shape variation among cucumber, melon and watermelon, and revealed both conserved and unique genetic architecture of fruit size/shape variation among cucurbit crops.

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