Preface

Cucumber is an economically important fruit vegetable. With abundant water, nutrients and phytochemical composition, cucumber has versatile uses in culinary, therapeutic and cosmetic purposes. Cucumber has also multiple advantages such as being a diploid and having a small genome, short life cycle and self-compatible mating system, so it has been identified as a model plant for genetic studies. The scientific research of cucumber will be beneficial for its efficient protection and utilization.

Cucumber was cultivated about 3000 years ago. It is indigenous to India and likely originated from the foothills of the Himalayas, and spread to Western Asia and Southern Europe. Cucumber was introduced respectively to North China through the Silk Route and to South China from Burma and the India–China border, and subsequently spread to East Asia. Nowadays, cucumber is widely cultivated in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world.

Over six sections, this book presents the latest findings and research on several aspects of cucumber biology, breeding, cultivation, marketing, and more. Section 1, "Introduction," provides an overview of cucumber. Section 2, "Economic Values and Pharmacological Potentials," helps readers to understand the nutrients, functional components, and extensive utilization of cucumber. Section 3, "Production and Market," explains the market structure and earning situation related to selling cucumber. Section 4 "Cultivation and Management" and Section 5 "Pest and Disease Prevention" discusses the cultivation and improvement of cucumber to obtain high yield. Section 6, "Breeding Progress," summarizes the classical genetics and traditional breeding of cucumber, as well as presents prospects for future breeding.

I would like to extend thanks to all authors who contributed to this book. My sincere thanks go also Author Service Manager Ms. Jasna Bozic at IntechOpen who helped me through all the stages of preparing and publishing this book.

> **Haiping Wang** Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

**1**

Section 1

Introduction

Section 1 Introduction

**3**

**Chapter 1**

**1. Introduction**

progress of cucumber.

**2. Biological characteristics**

seeds. The weight of 1000 seeds is about 20–40 g.

on Cucumber

*Huixia Jia and Haiping Wang*

Introductory Chapter: Studies

Cucumber (*Cucumis sativus* L.) belongs to *Cucumis* genus in *Cucurbitaceae* family and is an economically important fruit vegetable. There are three wild or semi-wild varieties of cucumber: *C. sativus* L. var. hardwickii, *C. sativus* L. var. sikkimensis, *C. sativus* L. var. xishuangbannanesis. Cucumber is indigenous to India and likely originated from the foothills of the Himalayan Mountain [1, 2]. Cucumber was cultivated ~3000 years ago in India, and it seems to spread rapidly to Western Asia, and then to Southern Europe [2]. Cucumber was introduced respectively to North China through the Silk Route and to South China from Burma and India-China border, and subsequently spread to East Asia [2]. Genome variation analysis showed cucumber core germplasms were divided into four geographic groups including India, Eurasia, East Asia, and Xishuangbanna [3]. Nowadays, cucumber is widely cultivated in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world [4]. The total production of cucumber was 87,805,086 tons worldwide, and Asia was the largest producer accounting for 84.9% of the world's total production in 2019 (www.fao. org/faostat/en/). With abundant water, nutrients and phytochemical composition, cucumber has versatile uses in culinary, therapeutic and cosmetic purposes [5, 6]. Cucumber has multiple advantages such as diploid, small genome, short life cycle and self-compatible mating system, so it is suitable for genetic studies. Moreover, cucumber has been identified as a model plant for studying sex determination and plant vascular biology [7]. Consequently, numerous studies have been conducted to discover the miracle of cucumber. The book will cover the extensive benefits, production and market, cultivation and management, pests and diseases, breeding

Cucumber is an annual climbing herbaceous plant. The root system is shallow and mainly distributes in the cultivated land layer of 30 cm. The stem is vine with different degree of apical dominance. The cross section of the stem is rhombus, and the epidermis of the stem has burrs. The axillae on the stem have the ability of branching, and the number of branching varies greatly among varieties. The cotyledons of cucumber are opposite and long elliptic; euphylla are alternate, simple, pentagonal palmate or cordate in outline, and the blades are 3–7 lobed. The flower is axillary, unisexual and occasionally hermaphrodite. The calyx is green with bristles, and the corolla is yellow. The colour of young fruit changes from white to pale green, while mature fruit is yellow or brown when ripened. The shape of the fruit is diverse, such as clublike, cylindrical and spherical. Each fruit has 100–400
