Cucumber (<i>Cucumis sativus L.)</i> sensory quality is determined by its texture, taste, and aroma. The sensory quality is influenced by genotypes and growing environment. This study aimed to quantify variation of volatiles and texture in 379 F3 cucumber progenies from the same parents and investigate the effect of growing environment (open field vs. greenhouse conditions). The volatile compounds were analyzed using solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (SPME-GC-MS). A total of 100-140 volatiles were identified in the different progenies. Three most dominant aroma-active compounds were hexenal, E-2-nonenal, and (E, Z)-2,6-nonadienal. Variation of volatile abundance (based on peak area) between progenies was as high as 7.5, 5.3, and 4.3 folds for hexenal, E-2-nonenal, (E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal, respectively. Analysis of variance between the open field replications and greenhouse progenies showed significant difference for hexenal and (E, Z)-2,6-nonadienal (a=0.05), but not for E-2-nonenal. The greenhouse cucumbers were 1.6 times higher in hexenal and 1.1 times higher in (E, Z)-2,6 nonadienal in volatile abundance, which indicated that the greenhouse progenies had potentially more intense cucumber, green, melon-like aroma. In addition, firmness was measured using a texture analyzer with a shear blade probe which cut through 4mm cucumber slices.  Firmness values varied between 12.67N-47.35N among the progenies. The open field F3 cucumbers had the firmness range of 17.18N - 47.35N and average firmness of 28.34N, while the greenhouse F3 cucumbers had firmness ranging 12.67N - 28.39N and average firmness of 19.16N. The open field cucumbers had higher firmness values and wider variation while the greenhouse cucumbers had lower firmness but exhibited higher uniformity. This study provides insight on quantitative variation of aroma and texture traits in progenies and optimal environmental conditions to achieve specific fruit qualities for cucumber breeding programs.

Volatile aroma and texture of 379 cucumber progenies and the impact of growing environment

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