View the 2024 Squash Report including all tables and figures in pages 53 – 64 of the pdf version of this report.
Squash Team members
Florida: Geoffrey Meru, Yuqing Fu, Prerna Sabharwal, Swati Shrestha and Shailesh Acharya
Michigan: Mary Hausbeck, Carmen Medina-Mora, David Perla, Matthew Uebbing
New York: Michael Mazourek, Chris Smart, Colin Day, Libby Indermaur, Gregor Inzinna, Taylere Herrmann
Puerto Rico: Angela Linares
Geoffrey Meru at UF IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center in Florida and his team have been researching Calabaza’s qualities as a sustainable crop to grow commercially in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Puerto Rico.
Prerna Sabharwal is a graduate student working on her PhD in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida. Her major Professor is CucCAP Squash breeder, Dr. Geoffrey Meru. The focus of Prerna’s research includes plant breeding, plant pathology, and genomics.
The CucCAP squash team published 6 journal articles in 2022 & 2023, 7 journal articles in 2021, and 5 journal articles in 2020.
Papaya ringspot virus-W (PRSV-W) causes severe yield losses in squash production. The Meru laboratory at the University of Florida identified a single QTL for resistance on Chromosome 09 of the C. moschata genome. Subsequent testing identified two SNP markers as potential targets for marker-assisted selection. The findings of this study will facilitate breeding for resistance against PRSV-W in commercial squash cultivars.
