Cucurbit Breeding – Department of Horticultural Science



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					Cucurbit Breeding at NC State

				

				The Cucurbit Breeding Project at North Carolina State University, Raleigh is under the direction of Todd Wehner. Project personnel are involved with research that includes the breeding and genetics of cucumber, watermelon, specialty melon, and other cucurbits such as luffa sponge gourd. We also work on stevia breeding.

Our research focuses on the following areas: collection and evaluation of germplasm, qualitative genetics of important traits, quantitative genetics, selection methods, yield improvement, induced mutation, and resistance to cold, insects, and disease. Our work is done primarily in 3 laboratories, 6 greenhouses, 3 drying barns, 1 disease chamber, 1 propagation bench, 2 growth rooms, and 4 experiment stations (Clinton, Goldsboro, Oxford, and Whiteville) made available to us by the university.

These web pages will provide you with an overview of our work, and will let you access information, articles, and software we have produced.

You can also visit the pages for the courses I teach (HS 590, HS 541 and HS 790), and for the plant breeding program at NC State (see the link for related groups).

General Information

	Our short address is https://cucurbitbreeding.wordpress.ncsu.edu/
	Courses
	Publications
	Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative
	Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Meetings



	Project Personnel
	Environmental sustainability
	Intercrossability of cucurbit species


The Cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae)

	One of top 5 crop families of the Angiosperms (besides Poaceae, Fabaceae, Brassicaceae, Solanaceae)
	Cucumber and its relatives
	Cucumis sativus, cucumber
	Cucumis sativus var. hardwickii, wild cucumber
	Cucumis hystrix (and Cucumis hytivus), xishuangbana gourd



	Melon and its relatives
	Cucumis melo, melon (cantaloupe)
	Cucumis melo var. flexuosus, snake melon
	Cucumis anguria, West Indian gherkin



	Squash and pumpkin
	Cucurbita pepo, summer squash and pumpkin
	Cucurbita maxima, winter squash and pumpkin
	Cucurbita moschata, tropical pumpkin



	Watermelon, citron, egusi melon, and colocynth
	Citrullus lanatus, sweet watermelon
	Citrullus amarus, citron
	Citrullus mucosospermus, egusi melon
	Citrullus colocynthis, colocynth



	Gourds and other cucurbits
	Benincasa, wax gourd
	Luffa, luffa gourd and ridge gourd
	Momordica, bitter gourd



	Cucurbitaceae taxonomy dendrogram (Kocyan, Zhang, Schaefer & Renner, 2007)
	Citrullus taxonomy dendrogram



	Synteny of watermelon, melon and cucumber





			

		

	



					
				
		

	





		

			

				

				
					
						
							Cucurbit Breeding
Dr. Todd Wehner

Department of Horticultural Science

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, NC 27695-7609



Phone: 919.741.8929

Email: tcwehner@gmail.com

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														Cucurbit Breeding


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						NC State University
						
							North Carolina State University
							Raleigh, NC 27695
							919.515.2011