Vol. 8, Special Issue 1, Part C (2024)

Breeding strategies in vegetable crops for protected cultivation for yield and bio-chemical traits

Author(s):

Ravi Gautam, Reetika, Jnapika KH, Vivek Beniwal, Zakir Hussain, Praveen K Singh, Sushmitha LC, Manisha Jindal and Sushima Dhital

Abstract:
Protected cultivation of high-value vegetables has gained significant attention and potential worldwide. The primary reason for this is enhancement of fruit quality and protection from insects, winter, rains etc. These technologies not only benefit larger-scale farming but also offer advantages to growers with smaller landholdings, as they can achieve higher productivity levels that are economically relevant to agriculture (Sabir et al., 2013) [38]. Keeping in view the majority of Indian farmers occupy small land holding (< 1.0 ha), protected cultivation may prove an Amritkaal technology for them due to its great potential to enhance their income by off-season cultivation for fetching 3-4 times high prices, raising off-season nursery for early crop raising, hybrid seed production of vegetable crops, enhanced per squaremeter productivity, multilayerd cropping etc.
Not only tomato, parthenocarpic cucumber, capsicum under crop rotation may be good options for protected cultivation. But the major challenge is non-availability of hybrids of these crops, suitable for Indian agro-climatic conditions. No major breeding efforts have made for breeding under these agro-climatic conditions. The hybrids/varieties released so far have been developed through breeding under open field conditions. To realize the full potential of hybrid, it should be developed/bred in specific environment for which it is being developed. Serious efforts are needed for this field. Presently, Cherry tomato Varieties like "Sweet 100," "Sun Gold," and "Yellow Pear" are excellent choices for greenhouse cultivation due to their compact growth and high yield potential. Arka meghali, arka surbhi, avtar, FA 180, GS 600 are some other tomato varieties. Cucumber Varieties like "Marketmore 76" and "Diva" are long and slender, making them ideal for vertical trellising in nethouses. Bell peppers varieties like "Ace" and "King Arthur" which produce good-sized fruits and have a manageable growth habit. In the context of developing high-color chilli varieties for extracting paprika oleoresin, the focus has shifted towards natural colors for food coloring in general (Prasath et al., 2008) [34]. The development of parthenocarpic fruit in cucumbers has been determined to be regulated by an incompletely dominant gene. This conclusion is drawn from the observation of the gene's segregation pattern in the F2 population and through test crosses conducted with the gynoecious and parthenocarpic cucumber line PPC-2 (Jat et al., 2017) [16].

Pages: 165-172  |  465 Views  235 Downloads

How to cite this article:
Ravi Gautam, Reetika, Jnapika KH, Vivek Beniwal, Zakir Hussain, Praveen K Singh, Sushmitha LC, Manisha Jindal and Sushima Dhital. Breeding strategies in vegetable crops for protected cultivation for yield and bio-chemical traits. Int. J. Adv. Biochem. Res. 2024;8(1S):165-172. DOI: 10.33545/26174693.2024.v8.i1Sc.301