Matching breeding target with consumer preference is the goal of many crop production methods. But this is normally a difficult challenge when the selected disease- and pest-resistant materials do not meet the consumers’ product preference. In this report, we highlight the efforts we are making to deliver cucumber lines with consumer-preferred visual traits and that have combined resistance to melonworm, leaf miner, aphids, and Downy mildew. After a series screening of 100 lines from the USDA, 36 showed at least 40% resistance to leafminer and melonworm in 2022 and 2023. Of these, we have evaluated 16 against lines with varying degrees of resistance and six susceptible lines against three commercial varieties commonly grown in the Virgin Islands. All the 25 cucumber lines were exposed to open natural infestation by leaf miner, melonworm, aphids and downy mildew in the open field and scored for resistance based on visual ratings designed for each infestation. We used a mathematical model that considered multiyear and multilocation performances to rank the lines for combined resistances. Unfortunately, the top three resistant lines were not among the top five visually appealing fruit types on a consumer preference scale based on a survey of 245 respondents. We report on the prospects and anticipated timeline for the development of cucumber plants with the preferred fruit type and disease and pest resistance traits. Our study has the potential to deliver cucumber varieties that are highly adapted to the Caribbean abiotic and biotic stresses and that have significantly reduced pesticide footprints. Key words: Consumer preference, cucumber, pest resistance, screening, trait
