Morphological differences in vegetative and fruit characteristics among eight pepino (Solanum muricatum Ait.) cultivars in Japan

K. Takahata, H. Mizumura, H. Shinohara, O.K. Kim, T. Ishikawa, K. Niwa, H. Fujisawa, K. Tada, T. Irisawa, Y. Mitsui, Z. Nishio, M. Yoshida, Y. Mitarai, A.Y. Taniguchi, H. Noguchi, M. Kazami, Y. Kawaguchi, Y. Kiryu, S. Kawabata, T. Baba
We cultivated eight cultivars of pepino (Solanum muricatum Ait.) during two distinct growing seasons: i.e., from winter to early autumn (Experiment 1) and from autumn to summer (Experiment 2) in Japan, in order to investigate the characteristics of their plants and fruits. The average number of flowers per inflorescence was markedly higher in ‘Gold Q’. At the completion of cultivation for each experiment, the average stem length (from the soil surface to the shoot apex) was longer in ‘Applinmimee’, ‘Royal’, and ‘Royal Custard’ but shorter in ‘Philly’. The average fruit weight was higher in ‘Applinmimee’, ‘Gold No.1’ and ‘Royal’ (300 g or heavier in both experiments) but lower in ‘Gold Q’, ‘Monroe Dance’ and ‘Philly’. The soluble solids content of fruits was highest in ‘Gold Q’ (7.6 °Brix in Experiment 1 and 10.3°Brix in Experiment 2), relatively high in ‘Gold No.1’, ‘Royal’ and ‘Royal Custard’, and lowest in ‘Gold Boy’. The fruit were heart-shaped in ‘Applinmimee’, round in ‘Gold Boy’, ‘Gold No.1’ and ‘Gold Q’, rectangular in ‘Monroe Dance’, elliptical in ‘Philly’, and obovate in ‘Royal’ and ‘Royal Custard’. The size of purple stripes on the skin of the fruit relative to fruit size was large in ‘Royal’ and ‘Royal Custard’, intermediate in ‘Applinmimee’ and small in other cultivars. Also, fruit weight and the soluble solids content of each cultivar varied with the cultivation season. These results provide useful information for the future production and breeding of pepinos in Japan.
Takahata, K., Mizumura, H., Shinohara, H., Kim, O.K., Ishikawa, T., Niwa, K., Fujisawa, H., Tada, K., Irisawa, T., Mitsui, Y., Nishio, Z., Yoshida, M., Mitarai, Y., Taniguchi, A.Y., Noguchi, H., Kazami, M., Kawaguchi, Y., Kiryu, Y., Kawabata, S. and Baba, T. (2020). Morphological differences in vegetative and fruit characteristics among eight pepino (Solanum muricatum Ait.) cultivars in Japan. Acta Hortic. 1299, 43-50
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1299.7
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1299.7
plant growth, fruit weight, fruit appearance, soluble solids content
English

Acta Horticulturae