Carotenoids and Quality of Watermelon as Affected by Deficit Irrigation and Growing Season
Conference Paper
Overview
Research
Identity
Additional Document Info
Other
View All
Overview
abstract
This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of deficit irrigation and growing season on fruit quality, carotenoid content and yield of red-, orange-, and yellow-fleshed diploid and triploid watermelon. Irrigation rates were 1.0 evapotranspiration (ET) and 0.5 ET. Diploid cultivars were Summer Flavor 710 (red), Tendersweet (orange), and Summer Gold (yellow). Triploid cultivars were Summer Sweet 5244 (red), Sunshine (orange), and Amarillo (yellow). Four-week old containerized transplants were planted in the field at TAES-Uvalde on 27 Mar. and 21 May 2003. Deficit irrigation imposed after plants were fully established reduced the individual fruit weight and size in the early planting. Soluble solids content (SSC) and firmness was not affected by irrigation rate in both plantings. SSC varied across cultivars and increased with maturity, particularly for the triploid cultivar Amarillo. In general, triploids were firmer than diploid cultivars. Total carotenoid content was not affected by irrigation during early planting. Diploid and triploid red-fleshed watermelon cultivars had significantly higher carotenoid content than orange- and yellow-fleshed cultivars. The major carotenoid was lycopene (more than 65%), followed by prolycopene (20%) and B-carotene (7%).
