Comparison of ovary culture and irradiated pollen technique used for haploid plant production in cucumber

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) which is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, is among the most widely cultivated vegetable species globally.
In Türkiye, a large proportion of cucumber varieties grown intensively both in greenhouses and open fields are F₁ hybrid seeds.
Producing hybrid seeds begins with developing inbred lines that are assumed to be homozygous.
These inbred lines are then included in hybridization programs.
However, this process takes a significant amount of time when using traditional breeding techniques.
Biotechnological methods are using to shorten the time and obtain 100% homozygous inbred lines.
Haploid techniques are used in cucumbers to accelerate the breeding process, enrich the parental pool, improve selection efficiency and enhance productivity and quality.
This study compared two methods for obtaining haploid plants in cucumbers: ovary culture and the irradiated pollen technique.
In the study, 6 different donor genotypes were grown under greenhouse conditions.
In the irradiated pollen technique, a ⁶⁰Co gamma ray source was used to irradiate the pollen at a dose of 300 Gy.
For this method, a total of 275 fruits of 6 genotypes were used.
From 275 fruits, 123 embryos were identified, and 114 healthy plants were successfully developed.
Flow cytometry analysis revealed that 95 of these plants were haploid while 14 were diploid.
For ovary culture, 18 different MS media containing various auxin/cytokinin combinations were prepared.
A total of 360 Petri dishes (18×20) were used per genotype, resulting in 2,160 Petri dishes for 2,400 female flowers.
A total of 289 embryos were observed and plantlets were developed.
Following acclimatization, 99 healthy plants were successfully transferred to the greenhouse. 57% of the embryos obtained through ovary culture were haploid, 34% were diploid, and 9% were mixoploid.
Ovary culture has attracted attention as an effective and practical method for haploid plant production in cucumber.

International Symposium on Biotechnological Tools in Horticulture

G.E. Vural, I. Simsek, L. Ozturk Akar, S. Zengin, H.N. Cayak, S.S. Ellialtioglu

Cucumis sativus L., gamma ray, flow cytometry, parthenogenesis, gynogenesis, haploidy

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1454.57