CUCUMBER VARIETY TRIAL


 Five variety trials were conducted for cucumber during the 1988-1991 period. A trial In 1988 evaluated six
 varieties for winter-spring planting. No trials were conducted in 1989. In 1990, two trials were conducted, one during
 the spring-summer and the other during the summer-fall season. This was followed by a fall-winter, 1990-91, trial
 and a spring, 1991, trial. The four trials conducted during 1990-1991 evaluated only four varieties. Overall, a total
 of seven varieties were evaluated.

 Winter-Spring, 1988

 Seeds of six cucumber varieties were planted directly in trial plots on January 29,1988. Varieties were Dynasty.
 Dasher II. Marketmore, Marketsett, Tropicuke and Victory. These varieties are of the slicing type and seeds were
 obtained from U.S. seed companies and distributors.
 Varieties were planted at a 1.5-m row spacing and a 91-cm plant spacing with three rows per plot. Each variety
 was planted in plots measuring 4.5 x 2.73 m. The trial was laid out using a randomized complete block design with
 three replications. AN plots were drip-irrigated to maintain soil moisture at field capacity. The first harvest was made
 on March 14, 1988, and the last harvest was on April 4,1988. The crop was harvested nine times during the harvest
 period.
 Data in Table 6 show that Victory, Dasher, Dynasty and Tropicuke produced 40.6, 30.1, 27.7 and 22.8 t1 ha-'
 of marketable yield, respectively. Differences among these varieties were not significant. Marketmore and
 Marketsett produced lower yields of 12.6 and 7.9 t ha-', respectively. There were no significant differences in fruit
 size among varieties, but Dynasty produced the largest fruit of 309 g followed by Victory with 298 g. The results
 suggest that the four cucumber varieties performed equally well during the winter-spring season.

 Table 5. Total marketable yield of slicing cucumber varieties grown In
 winter-spring, 1988, at UVI-AES.

 Marketable yield' Fruit size
 Variety (t ha-') (g)

 Victory 40.6 a 298
 Dasher II 30.1 ab 263
 Dynasty 27.7 ab 309
 Tropicuke 22.8 ab 270
 Marketmore 12.6 c 209
 Marketsett 7.9 c 192

 'Means within a column followed by the same letter are not
 significantly different by Duncan's Multiple Range Test, (P=0.05).


Spring-Summer, 1990

 Three of the four best varieties from the 1988 trial were evaluated In spring-summer, 1990. Because of lack of
seed, Dynasty was replaced by Gemini 7. The varieties were field-planted on April 26,1990. Plots contained three
rows that were 7.3 m long. Plants were spaced 1.5 m between rows and 61 cm along the row. A fertilizer equivalent
to 130 kg.ha-' of N was applied two weeks after transplanting.
 All plots were covered with black plastic mulch to control weeds and reduce irrigation water use. To control Insect
pests, regular spraying was performed at recommended rates of dipel, diazinon and malathion. All plots were drip-
Irrigated to maintain adequate soil moisture.
 A total of 13 harvests were conducted during the growing season. The first harvest was performed on June 15
and the last on July 19. 1990.
 Varieties Victory, Tropicuke and Dasher II produced the highest yields of 21.2,18.3 and 17.6 t1 ha, respectively.
although yields were not as high as those obtained during the winter-spring growing season (Table 6). These yields
were not significantly different. Gemini 7 produced only 13.1 t ha-' of marketable yield, but had the largest
fruit (288 g) among the varieties.