Physicochemical characterization of watermelon accessions from traditional agriculture with resistance to Fusarium wilt

Abstract

ABSTRACT Watermelon has great importance due to its nutritional properties. The aim of this work was to study accessions classified as resistant to fusariosis. Twelve accessions and two cultivars, Sugar Baby and Charleston Gray (controls), were characterized for watermelon fruit quality descriptors. The experiment was conducted in Petrolina-PE, over two production cycles in a randomized complete block design, with three repetitions and five plants per plot. Two fruits per plot were sampled for characterization. Ten quantitative and seven qualitative descriptors were evaluated. For the qualitative traits, dissimilarity measures were determined by a matrix of Euclidean distance. At the second harvest, most accessions had higher organic acid and vitamin C content in the pulp and higher soluble solids (°Brix) content. The accessions were divided into four groups according to the Tocher method. There is variability among the evaluated accessions, and the accessions BGH-Univasf 40, BGH-Univasf 169, and BGH-Univasf 177 are potential sources for use in watermelon breeding programs. Accessions BGH-UNIVASF 76, BGH-UNIVASF 128, and BGH-UNIVASF 185 (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) performed well in terms of total production, fruit mass, and vitamin C content.

Keywords

• Citrullus lanatus
• Fusarium oxysporum f. sp niveum
• germplasm
• plant breeding