Articles
GENETIC ASPECTS OF MUSKMELON FRUIT STORABILITY
There is a well-known conflict between the desire to pick the fruit as close as possible to the peak of eating quality and achieving fruit storage longevity.
The decision of when to harvest is made on the basis of the predicted duration between harvest and consumption.
In any case fruit quality does not improve, and generally declines under storage conditions.
Several postharvest prestorage treatments have been proposed in recent years in order to prolong melon fruit life
The species Cucumis melo L. includes several subspecies with a relatively wide range of storage characteristics.
Most commercial cultivars belong to the subspecies reticulatus, and their climacteric fruits have a short shelf-life.
However, cultivars of the subspecies inodorous are popular in many regions, and most have non-climacteric fruits and a long shelf-life.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the inheritance of storage-related characteristics by observing parential, filial and backcross generations of three crosses between breeding lines differing in storability.
Two Israeli muskmelon breeding lines (CNY and CKR) with poor storability, and two muskmelon breeding lines (BAKU 80 and BAKU 69) selected from an heterogenic population originating from Azerbaijan, with excellent storability characteristics, were used for a genetic study of postharvest behaviour of the fruits.
The four lines were crossed to form three families: Gala (CNY X CKR), Noyku (CNY X BAKU 80) and Krimku (BAKU 69 X CKR), each including P1, P2, F1,F2 and BC1 generations.
The three families were grown in the summer of 1995 in a field trial at Davis, California, and the Noyku family was also grown in the winter of 1996 in a heated greenhouse at Newe Ya’ar, Israel
Samples of 20–50 fruits of each generation were harvested at the half-slip stage to determine CO2 and ethylene production in the fruit cavity, as well as flesh firmness, total soluble solids and horticultural quality characteristics at harvest and up to 14 days of shelf storage at 20°C. Genetic analysis of the results was used to interpret the mode of inheritance of relevant postharvest characters in muskmelons.