The experiment was carried out at the Experimental Field of Bebedouro, Petrolina, Brazil, from September to november, 1996. The purpose of this study was to identify the highest yielding pickling cucumber cultivars. The experiment was Iaid out in a complete randomized block design, with twenty-two cultivars (Flurry, Francipak, Nautillus, Primepak, Navigator, Vlasstar, Vlaspik, Vlasset, Calypso, Eureka, Panorama, Imperial, Prêmio, Supremo, HE-671, HE-713, HE-601, HE-657, Premier, Pioneiro, Ginga AG-77 e Wisconsin SMR 18) as treatments, and three replications. Experimental plots consisted of four 3 m rows, with spaces of 1.00 x 0.30 m. Cultivars Supremo (39.78 t/ha), Vlasset (39.72 t/ha), Ginga AG-77 (39.58 t/ha), Vlaspik (39.21 t/ha), Calypso (37.89 t/ha), Francipak (37.87 t/ha), Navigator (37.59 t/ha), Primepak (36.95 t/ha), Imperial (36.77 t/ha), Panorama (35.99 t/ha) and Eureka (35.13 t/ha) showed the significantly highest yields. The cultivar Wisconsin SMR 18 showed the lower performance, with 21.29 t/ha. Considering The number of fruits per plant, cultivars Vlasset (13.90 fruits), Ginga AG-77 (13.83), Primepak (13.58), Panorama (13.55), Supremo (13.54), Calypso (13.01), Vlaspik (12.83), Francipak (12.59) and Navigator (12.16) showed statistically the best performance. Cultivars Supremo (83.13%), HE-657 (82.23%), Flurry (81.55%), Ginga AG-77 (81.31%) and Eureka (81.24%) had the highest proportions of commercial fruit in class I, i.e., with lenght between 6 and 9cm, and lhe highest commercial value. AlI cultivars, from sowing lo last harvest, had a cycle between 72 e 75 days.
Cucumis sativus; yield; fruit average weight; number of fruits per plant; grading
