Results of the 2018 Seedless Pickling Cucumber Variety Trial

Benjamin Phillips<benp@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - March 04, 2019

The results of the 2018 seedless pickling cucumber variety trial are now available.

Pickle plots — Preparing to harvest pickle plots. Photo by Ben Phillips, MSU Extension.

A pickling cucumber variety trial was planted at the Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center (43.399097, -83.694497, Frankenmuth, Michigan). Rijk Zwaan (RZ) and Bejo (BJ) seed companies donated parthenocarpic (seedless) cucumber seeds for the trial. A PDF version of this report can be found at the Midwest Vegetable Trial Report for 2018 website: 2018 Seedless Pickling Cucumber Variety Trial.

Materials and methods

On June 7, 2018, we planted 16 varieties in four-row plots 20 feet long, 20 inches on-center, with 10-inch, in-row spacing targeting 30,000 seeds per acre and hoed to a final population of 26,136 plants per acre. Each variety was replicated three times. We used 180 pounds 46-0-0 preplant incorporated and Curbit (ethafluralin) and Command (clomazone) preemergent herbicide was applied at 2 pints per acre and 1 pint per acre, respectively. Plots were later thinned to one plant every 10 inches. The weather was hot and dry after planting, and no fungicides were used for downy mildew control.

Three reps of all cultivars were harvested and measured on July 25 (day 48). Twenty plants were taken from one of the middle rows in the four-row plots. All fruit were removed from the plants and sent through a sorter: 4s (more than 2 inches in diameter), 3Bs (1.75 - 2 inches), 3As (1.5 - 1.75 inches), 2Bs (1.25 – 1.5 inches), 2As (1.0625 – 1.25 inches) and 1s (0.5 – 1.0625 inches). Culls were counted and removed, and harvest weights and L:D ratios of marketable cucumbers in each size class were measured. L:D ratios were measured from ten cucumbers per size class. A subsample of each variety was brined at Hausbeck Pickle Company.

Results and discussion

RZ10, Liszt, RZ6, RZ8, Amarok and Absolut had high yields (Table 1). Rubinstein, Liszt, RZ6, RZ11, Artist, Amarok, Aristan, and Absolut sized up faster in the heat and yielded more fruit in size class 4 at harvest. Cull rates from crooked or nubbed fruit were between 3.87 percent and 18.69 percent. Absolut, Amarok, RZ8, RZ10 and Bowie appear to be the best performing varieties in 2018, with the highest 3B and 3A yields after factoring in cull percentages.

Subplot data measurements of certain size classes within varieties was missing for several entries. Therefore, data on L:D ratios and hollow centers was not analyzed, and only means and coefficient of variation are displayed (Table 2). Despite hot and dry conditions that favored malformations, Aristan, and RZ7 each had low percentages of hollow centers. This suggests an adaptability of those varieties to hot and dry growing conditions. The low percentage for Amour and Ansor is mostly from 2B and 2A size classes and fewer reps.

The L:D ratios trended less than 3 for sizes 3B and 3A, but closer to 3 for sizes 2B and 2A (Table 2). This may have been an environmental effect reflecting the low moisture and heat conditions at the time that 3B and 3A fruit were developing.

Due to high heat and little rain, all varieties experienced three separate germination periods over the course of three weeks. By the second week, most of all plants had emerged, but plant sizes were inconsistent in all plots.

The brine stock was cut and evaluated on Feb. 1, 2019, along with four additional experimental standard seeded varieties from a multi-state downy mildew-resistance breeding program. No yield data was collected from these experimental varieties in this trial. They are shown in Table 3 as MI varieties. Under the knife, Amarok, Ansor, Aristan, Gershwin, Bowie, MI12, MI13, RZ8 and RZ9 came out as favorites.

Table 1. Yield and quality data on 16 seedless pickling cucumber varieties planted at the Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center in 2018. Values are averaged across three replicates. Values in bold indicate that the variety performed statistically similar to the variety with the highest value for that column, as determined through a Least Significant Difference test at alpha = 5% and a two-tailed t-statistic _(30,0.05). NS indicates that there were no significant differences between varieties. Rows were 20 ft long, 20 inches on-center, with 10 inch in-row spacing targeting 30,000 seeds per acre and hoed to a final population of 26,136 plants per acre.
Variety	Bushels Per Acre						Fruit Per Plant	% Cull
Variety	Total	4	3B	3A	2B	2A	Fruit Per Plant	% Cull
RZ10	477.90	115.26	277.44	59.22	18.68	7.29	2.62	12.51%
Liszt	474.71	292.48	146.69	23.69	6.38	5.47	2.27	3.88%
Absolut	391.34	156.72	179.50	33.26	20.50	1.37	2.02	6.85%
RZ6	387.69	200.45	99.77	46.47	22.78	18.22	2.02	11.13%
RZ8	367.19	21.87	220.50	92.03	20.50	12.30	2.00	15.01%
Amarok	362.18	67.42	158.54	85.65	28.70	21.87	2.40	7.95%
RZ7	349.88	67.88	113.89	102.05	48.75	17.31	2.23	17.96%
Aristan	344.41	122.55	116.63	67.42	26.42	11.39	1.92	18.69%
RZ11	340.77	148.97	123.92	36.90	19.59	11.39	1.82	14.29%
Rubinstein	339.86	133.48	129.38	52.85	11.84	12.30	1.87	7.83%
Bowie	301.68	16.40	147.24	101.14	26.88	10.02	1.85	10.86%
Artist	293.84	139.41	63.32	23.23	42.82	25.06	1.80	9.33%
Gershwin	280.09	86.56	98.31	69.70	21.87	3.64	1.52	9.68%
RZ9	206.37	43.73	64.69	42.37	33.26	22.32	1.47	8.71%
Amour	144.42	42.37	38.72	5.92	23.69	33.71	1.27	9.31%
Ansor	111.16	9.57	16.40	56.95	10.02	18.22	0.58	13.09%
Mean	323.34	104.07	124.68	56.18	23.92	14.49	1.85	11.07%
CV	23.26	60.01	43.89	60.52	51.55	49.27	19.15	58.74
t-value	2.042	2.042	2.042	2.042	2.042	2.042	2.042	2.042
LSD	125.402	104.136	91.243	56.692	20.561	11.906	0.591	NS
p-value	<0.0001	0.000	0.000	0.036	0.020	0.000	<0.0001	0.366

Table 2. Length and diameter ratios and hollow center data on 16 seedless pickling cucumber varieties planted at the Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center in 2018. No statistical analyses were performed on these variables.
Variety	Company	L:D Ratios				% with 3-hole carpel separation
Variety	Company	3B	3A	2B	2A	% with 3-hole carpel separation
RZ10	RZ	2.39	2.50	3.07	3.05	44.55
Liszt	RZ	2.45	2.60	3.09	2.83	28.31
Absolut	BE	2.53	2.76	3.11	2.70	54.90
RZ6	RZ	2.44	2.79	2.98	2.56	31.97
RZ8	RZ	2.68	2.91	3.28	3.39	27.84
Amarok	BE	2.32	2.49	2.46	2.89	51.84
RZ7	RZ	2.64	2.78	3.00	3.10	1.04
Aristan	BE	2.50	2.67	2.88	3.03	1.33
RZ11	RZ	2.56	2.63	3.05	3.09	19.57
Rubinstein	RZ	2.53	2.88	2.90	3.16	18.97
Bowie	RZ	2.59	2.67	2.94	3.35	90.28
Artist	BE	2.50	2.69	2.99	2.95	14.14
Gershwin	RZ	2.55	2.68	2.89	3.40	58.56
RZ9	RZ	2.44	2.68	2.75	3.10	10.63
Amour	BE	2.50	3.05	2.96	2.15	3.67
Ansor	BE	2.75	2.70	3.05	3.21	0.00
Mean	-	2.51	2.72	2.96	3.00	28.60
CV	-	4.24	7.05	9.28	17.01	93.64

Table 3. Eight participants from seed companies and brineries graded the 16 seedless pickling cucumbers from the trial and the four experimental standard seeded downy mildew-resistant MI varieties. For each characteristic they were asked to rate between 1 (bad) and 9 (great). Values in bold indicate that the variety performed statistically similar to the variety with the highest value for that column, as determined through a Least Significant Difference test at alpha = 5% and a two-tailed t-statistic _(140,0.05%). NS indicates that there were no significant differences between varieties. Cucumbers were brined at Hausbeck Pickle Company.
Variety	General Look	Seeds	Color	Long cut softness	Skin toughness
Absolut	4.25	6.75	5.25	5.50	6.50
Amarok	6.88	7.38	7.25	6.38	7.63
Amour	6.13	6.88	6.50	6.25	7.50
Ansor	6.75	6.88	6.38	5.13	7.50
Aristan	7.38	7.38	7.13	5.88	7.50
Artist	4.38	6.00	5.38	6.00	6.25
Bowie	6.63	7.25	6.13	7.25	7.38
Gershwin	7.25	7.63	7.25	6.50	7.88
Liszt	3.50	6.50	4.88	5.50	5.75
MI12	7.38	6.88	7.38	6.00	7.75
MI13	6.50	7.25	7.00	5.13	7.00
MI22	4.75	4.63	6.50	5.38	7.13
MI8	4.38	7.25	6.13	5.38	7.25
Rubenstein	5.50	7.13	5.63	5.63	6.88
RZ6	7.13	6.63	5.63	5.63	7.25
RZ7	6.13	7.25	5.50	6.50	7.00
RZ8	6.38	7.38	6.63	5.75	7.25
RZ9	7.75	7.38	7.00	5.75	7.88
RZ10	3.50	6.63	4.13	5.25	6.13
RZ11	3.63	6.75	3.13	5.13	5.50
Average	5.81	6.89	6.04	5.79	7.04
LSD 5%	1.53	1.45	1.66	NS	1.42
P-value 5%	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001	0.783	<0.0001
CV %	34.85	34.85	34.85	34.85	34.85

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Robert Grohs, George Pape, Kristin Oomen, and Ken McCammon at the seed companies; Paul Horny, Dennis Fleischmann, Holly Corder, Connie Mossner, and Bill at the farm; Dave Brewer, Aaron, Joel, Tony, Todd, Mike, and others at Hausbeck’s; and thanks to the board at Pickle Packers International, Beet Sugar Development Foundation, and the MSU AABI GREEEN Programming Fund for helping improve the farm for pickle trials.

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