A new pumpkin cultivar 'Stripe pepo' with hull-less seed and short internodes

摘要

Pumpkin seeds are increasingly being used as a source of seed oil and for toppings of sweets and snacks in Japan. Normally, pumpkin seeds have seed coats (hulls), so their seed coats must be removed prior to pumpkin seed consumption. Therefore, we have produced a new pumpkin (summer squash; Cucurbita pepo) cultivar 'Stripe pepo' with hull-less seeds (also called naked seeds or strip seeds). This cultivar was bred from a cross between 'Toyohira 1' (as the seed parent) and 'Toyohira 2' (as the pollen parent). The main traits of the new cultivar are as follows: 1) the main stem has short internodes in the lower nodes, and the plant has a bush-type shape, with internode lengths in more distal regions of the main stem gradually become longer; 2) the fruit rind is orange with green stripes; 2) seed yield is higher, and seed size is larger than a popular hull-less seed cultivar 'Fukutane'; and 4), the seeds are deep green in colour.