Changes of physico-chemical properties such as size, weight, moisture content, total soluble solid (TSS), colour, pH, total acidity and sugar content of red seedless watermelon during storage at room temperature (± 28oC; 70-80% RH) were investigated. The average weight, diameter and length of red seedless watermelon were 5.94 kg, 22.0 cm and 21.8 cm respectively. The length to diameter ratio wa...

Lycopene and citrulline contents of 9 diploids (2X) and their artificially induced autotetraploids (4X) and autotriploids (3X) were determined in mature fruit. Changes in lycopene and citrulline during fruit development was studied using fruit of variety XYXA with three different ploidy levels from 15 to 40 days after pollination (DAP). Polyploids, especially triploids, had higher levels of lyc...

Powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii has recently become an important disease of watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai] in the United States. The disease can be controlled with fungicides, but it would be more economical and environmentally safe to use genetic resistance. Here, we report sources of resistance to powdery mildew race 2W identifi ed in the evaluation of th...

The inheritance of rind pattern and color in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) has been studied since the 1930s. The most common rind (or skin) colors in watermelon are solid green (dark, medium, and light), striped (narrow, medium, and wide dark green stripes on a light green background), and gray (a light green background with a medium or dark green network of reticulati...

To investigate phylogenetic relationships in the genus Cucumis, 9 consensus chloroplast simple sequence repeat (ccSSR) primer pairs (ccSSR3, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, and 23) were employed for DNA fragment length variation and 5 amplified fragments, ccSSR4, 12, 13, 19, and 20, were sequenced using total DNA from 13 accessions representing 7 African Cucumis species (x = 12), 3 Cucumis melo L. (...