POSTHARVEST CHANGE IN COMPOSITIONAL, VISUAL AND TEXTURAL QUALITY OF GRAFTED WATERMELON CULTIVARS

M.C. Kyriacou , G.A. Soteriou
Changes in compositional, visual, and textural fruit quality attributes during storage at 25°C were evaluated in four large-fruited, seeded watermelon cultivars (‘Celebration’, ‘Gallery’, ‘Pegasus’, ‘Torpilla’) and a small-fruited, seedless cultivar (‘Extazy’) grafted onto three hybrid rootstocks (TZ148, Bombo and N101) or grown self-rooted. In the large fruited cultivars all quality attributes examined, except flesh firmness, were mostly influenced by storage period. After one week at 25°C lycopene content increased, flesh color turned darker (lower L*) and more vivid (higher C*) while hue angle (h°), flesh firmness and total soluble solids (TSS) content remained stable. After two weeks of storage flesh firmness, TSS and lycopene content declined. Rind thickness reduced throughout storage. At the expense of thicker fruit rind, grafting was responsible for improved flesh firmness, higher lycopene content and darker reddish flesh color (lower L* and h°, and higher a*) during storage. Grafting was not significant in terms of TSS content. Rootstock did not significantly affect any of the quality attributes examined. Poor correlation with CIELAB color components suggests that flesh color darkness, intensity and affinity to reddish hue are not reliable criteria for watermelon sweetness and firmness. However, the intensity of red coloration (C* and a* values) may be more reliably regarded as an indicator of water¬melon lycopene content. The small-fruited, seedless cultivar ‘Extazy’ exhibited outlying quality attributes and disparate postharvest behaviour with respect to the large-fruited cultivars. Its pronounced potential for long shelf-life was offset by its low TSS content after two weeks of storage.
Kyriacou , M.C. and Soteriou , G.A. (2012). POSTHARVEST CHANGE IN COMPOSITIONAL, VISUAL AND TEXTURAL QUALITY OF GRAFTED WATERMELON CULTIVARS. Acta Hortic. 934, 985-991
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.934.131
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.934.131
storage, firmness, rind, soluble solids, lycopene, flesh color
English

Acta Horticulturae