2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Cucumis melo var. reticulatus (muskmelon) is a diploid, andromonoecious species in the Cucurbitaceae family with origins in India. Muskmelon has had robust cultivation growth over the last century due to its’ culinary appeal and health benefits. The United States ranks fifth internationally for production with a three-hundred-million-dollar market, following countries such as China, Turkey, and Spain. Among the states that produce melons, California grows over 60 percent (1 million tons/year) of the total U.S. market from June to October. In the off-season from November to May, melons are imported from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico. A decline in production can be attributed to the increase in the cost of production and the lack of adapted cultivars. The objective of this study is to address the producer and consumer needs’ in a dynamic market by developing and identifying hybrid cultivars adapted to the Texas growing environment, with enhanced fruit quality and improved yield potential through breeding elite inbred lines. Andromonoecious breeding lines were used as six maternal parents and six paternal parents in a North Carolina II factorial design to produce thirty-six F1 hybrids. Field evaluations were conducted in Uvalde, Texas during the Spring of 2019 to determine a range of qualitative traits, high-parent heterosis, broad-sense heritability, and the general combining ability of the F1 hybrids within the population. Evaluation parameters for the traits of interest include netting height, width, and coverage; weight (lbs.), shape and size (cm.); colorimeter values (CIE *L, *a, *b); penetrometer (N); Brix (TSS %); abscission size; cavity fill percentage and physiological defects present. A similar population evaluated in 2018 had a range of qualitative traits: weight (lbs.), firmness (N), and percent total soluble solids (TSS %), from 1.8 – 14.3 lbs., 11 – 134 N, and 4.8 – 15.6 % TSS under a control (normal irrigation) and treatment one (water deficit). Measured heritability estimates for were relatively low: a*, 0.4584; b*, 0.2506; weight, 0.2513; size, 0.2204; flesh color, 0.2454. Under the control treatment, high-parent heterosis for TSS % ranged from -35.78 to 16.83; drought treatment TSS % ranged from -16.16 to 18.67. An analysis determined a biological explanation for the positive correlation in qualitative traits, as well as identified a useful hybrid (BL 110 x BL 109). This study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture-NIFA-SCRI- 2017-51181-26834 through the National Center of Excellence for Melon at the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center of Texas A&M University.