2019 ASHS Annual Conference

The experiment was carried out at the agricultural research station of the North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota during the 2016-2018 summer season in an open field condition. The goal of this research is to develop improved vegetables cultivars with high resilience and broad genetic base that can be best suited for northern plain’s region. The research objective was to perform phenotypic selection and evaluate tomatoes breeding lines and cucurbit crops including squash melon and pumpkin. To be specific, the research worked was carried out more on evaluating cultivars on the earliness, nutritional quality, disease resistance, and yield parameters of the selected crops. New cultivars developed in this research will be made available for growers of the local food systems and farmer’s markets as well as home growers and the general publics. Breeding lines and germplasm material used in the research was from: 1) tomato breeding lines stored at NDSU since 1980s, 2) Sand Hills Conservation Center, 3) heirloom varieties, 4) accessions available at the National Germplasm Storage Lab, 5) wild species and disease resistant germplasm form Tomato Genetic Resources Centers at University of California-Davis, and 6) donations from research institutions and vegetable seed companies. Out of more than 100 tomato accession lines, we have so far able to select 10 best high yielding, disease tolerant and quality tomatoes line suitable for northern growing. These accessions include tomato plants of different growth habits as well as fruit size , yield and quality.