DUHAM -- As autumn ushers in the harvest season, the University of New Hampshire's pumpkin and squash breeding program -- the longest-running in North America -- continues to yield remarkable results.
Led by New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station scientist Chris Hernandez, the team is gathering and studying hybrid varieties like "Tetsukabuto" winter squash, a cross that blends the rich flavor of the kabocha with the disease resistance and long shelf-life of butternut squash.
UNH's cucurbit breeding program, first established in the 1940s, has produced more than 100 new varieties of squash, pumpkins, and melons and generated more than $2 million in royalties for the university through seed catalog sales worldwide.
Hernandez, an assistant professor of plant breeding with UNH's College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, now leads the next chapter of this storied program, developing crops with improved yield, disease resistance, and nutrition, while collecting vital genetic data to preserve the program's legacy.
To learn more about UNH's cucurbit breeding program, visit https://shorturl.at/Ec0hJ