Environmental and genetic factors on carotenoids and quality in watermelon fruits
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Carotenoid compounds provide health benefits for humans such as antioxidant activity, prevention of cancer and heart diseases and enhancement of the immune system. They also contribute the red, orange and yellow color to fruits and flowers, harvest light and protect plants from photo-oxidation. Watermelon fruit is an excellent source of carotenoids, especially lycopene. Irrigation is essential for watermelon production and irrigation efficiency is becoming more critical in agricultural regions with highly regulated underground aquifers or with limited resources of surface water. We assessed environmental and genotypic effects on fruit quality and carotenoid content of diploid and triploid watermelon. Irrigation regimes were 1.0, 0.75 and 0.5 evapotranspiration (ET) imposed through subsurface drip in three distinctive geographical Texas locations. Lycopene content increased with maturity and was not decreased by deficit irrigation. Across environments, triploid cultivars appeared to be more stable in fruit quality characteristics and lycopene content than diploid cultivars. Both diploid and triploid red-fleshed cultivars had significantly higher total carotenoid content compared to orange-and yellow-fleshed cultivars. Integrating environmental, genetic and molecular studies aimed at the identification and quantification of the major carotenoids and the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of carotenoid biosynthesis would facilitate breeding watermelons with enhanced level of these health-promoting compounds and with adaptability to a wider range of production regions.
