Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), a crop of significant economic importance in India, exhibits extensive genetic diversity, making it a prime candidate for genetic enhancement. The present study was conducted during the zaid season of 2023–2024 at the Vegetable Research Farm, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology, Ayodhya, using 24 diverse cucumber genotypes in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Significant differences among genotypes were observed for all 16 quantitative traits, indicating the presence of substantial genetic variability. Traits like the number of primary branches per plant, the node number bearing the first staminate flower, and ascorbic acid content exhibited high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation. High heritability estimates coupled with high genetic advance as a percentage of the mean were recorded for ascorbic acid, TSS, fruit yield per plant, number of primary branches, and fruit yield per hectare, suggesting additive gene action and effectiveness of direct selection. High heritability (> 80 %) coupled with high genetic advance in per cent of mean (> 20%) were recorded for Ascorbic acid (99.85% and 30.20%) followed by TSS (98.67% and 19.19%) followed by fruit yield per plant kg (87.92% and 23.14%), number of primary branches per plant (85.65% and 43.72%), fruit yield q/ha (84.23% and 22.66%), node number bearing first staminate flower (81.94 and 37.41%), indicating that these traits were little influenced by environment. Thus, required low selection intensity for improvement. Genotypes VRCU-2249, Pusa Uday, and Arka Veera outperformed the standard check (Pant Khira-1) in yield, indicating their potential utility in future breeding programs aimed at yield enhancement. The results underscore the importance of exploiting genetic variability for the genetic improvement of cucumber.