Cucurbit downy mildew is a major threat for pickling cucumber production requiring frequent fungicide applications.
CucCAP Project Updates
Contributions to the CucCAP project by the Bioinformatics Team, Cucurbit Crop Breeding Teams, and the Integrated Disease Management Team.
Disease Survey for Cucumber growers
You are invited to take part in a research study. Your participation in this study is voluntary. You have the right to be a part of this study, to choose not to participate, and to stop participating at any time without penalty. The purpose of this research study is to gain a better understanding of grower’s opinions on cucumber varieties.
South Carolina Grower Update | 10/30/23
NC State University is looking for cucumber growers to participate in a survey about experiences with common cucumber diseases and growers’ opinions about cucumber plant characteristics. The aim of this study is to inform plant breeders, growers’ associations, the USDA, and others about what matters to growers like you in choosing which varieties to grow.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Gregory Inzinna
Gregory Inzinna hopes to identify resistance genes in Cucurbita and provide the seed and vegetable industry with resistant breeding lines and markers they can use in their work.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Xuebo Zhao
Xuebo Zhao is a postdoctoral researcher in the Fei Lab at Boyce Thompson Institute. The focus of Xuebo’s work is genomics. Her research is to unravel the evolution of Cucurbits using pan-genome.
CucCAP scientists develop a super-pangenome for watermelon
A super-pangenome was constructed to represent the entire watermelon gene repertoire, uncovering several disease resistance genes that are present in wild watermelons while completely lost in watermelon cultivars.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Bazgha Zia
Bazgha Zia is a postdoctoral researcher at the United States Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, S.C. Bazgha’s research includes the development of virus resistant genetic material in cucurbits and identification of novel virus strains.
Sequencing watermelon reveals disease-resistance genes bred out generations ago
Researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, New York, have analyzed genomes of watermelon and its ancestors, revealing traits that early breeders may have inadvertently removed in their quest to maximize the red, sweet, watery flesh of the fruit. Their report appears in Plant Biotechnology Journal.