Role of Morphological Traits and Biochemical Contents in Imparting Resistance against Cucumber Mosaic Virus and Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus in Cucumber Genotypes

Cucumber, a popular vegetable of the Cucurbitaceae family, is cultivated on a large scale all over the world including Pakistan. In the present study, the role of morphological traits and biochemical factors of six cucumber genotypes (Shaheen, Beit Alpha, Songroo, Best Pick, All Season and Alpha Prime) were investigated in imparting resistance and susceptibility against Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV). Different vegetative parameters showed different trends among the diseased and healthy plants for resistant and susceptible varieties. Total number of leaves, flowers and shoots per plant, leaf area (cm(2)), plant height (cm), stem diameter (mm), total chlorophyll contents and total soluble phenols were reduced in inoculated plants of both susceptible and resistant genotypes. In resistant varieties, however, this decrease was less compared with the decrease in the inoculated plants of the susceptible varieties. The results suggest that breeders should prefer the use of a resistant variety (Beit Alpha) in the development of new resistant cucumber varieties that can perform better against CMV and ZYMV infections.