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- Author or Editor: A. R. Carr x
- HortScience x
Abstract
The sweet, juicy, red flesh of watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai] is a popular dessert in Australia, while the bland, white, firm-textured flesh of pie-melons, also Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai, is used in jam making. Red flesh color of watermelon is a monogenic trait and recessive to white (7). Both bitter and sweet forms of C. lanatus occur and are naturalized in inland areas of tropical and subtropical Australia (3, 9). Bitter fruit of commercial watermelon occasionally have appeared in markets in Australia. A mutation within a commercial cultivar has been considered as the source of plants producing bitter fruit (1,3,6). The nonbitter characteristic of fruit in commerce is conferred by a single recessive gene (1, 7). However, in bitter fruit of C. lanatus, the concentration of Cucurbitacin E glycoside, the principal compound sensed as bitterness (2, 5), is influenced by a modifier gene or genes (1, 7). The concentration of the glycoside in bitter fruit of Accession 242 (a wild type), and of the bitter mutant of the commercial cultivar Hawkes-bury, are 240-590 mg°kg−1 and 1500-2100 mg°kg−1, respectively, and 910-1240 mg °kg−1 in the F1 (1, 2). The concentration of Cucurbitacin E glycoside in nonbitter fruit of C. lanatus is reported to be 0 mg°kg−1 (1) and 60-90 mg°kg−1 (8).