watermelon and cantaloupe varieties - purdue agriculture...known‐you seed nunhems/bayer sakata...

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Watermelon and Cantaloupe VarietiesWenjing Guan

Horticultural SpecialistSouthwest Purdue Agricultural Center

SWPACDaniel S. Egel,

Dennis Nowaskie,

Curtis Marchino

Barbara Joyner Angie Thompson Bill Davis

Alex PlummerThomas D. H. Haseman

Summer helpers

Seed Companies:

Southwest Indiana Melon and Vegetable Growers

Association

High tunnel melon project

PI: Petrus Langenhoven, Purdue University

A safer and healthier melon supply chain in the

U.S.

Lead by Texas A&M

Bejo SeedsClifton

Harris MoranHazera

HighMarkHollar

Enza ZadenK&B development

Known‐You Seed Nunhems/Bayer

SakataSeedwaySeminisSyngentaOrigene

United GeneticsUS Agriseeds

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Timeline

Planting seeds in mid April Transplanting in mid May

Watermelon harvest mid July to mid Aug.Cantaloupe harvest early July to early Aug.

Water and fertility management

Fertilizer Rate (lb/acre)

Urea (46‐0‐0) 250

Potash (0‐0‐60) 100

Diammonium phosphate (18‐46‐0)

100

Boron 14.3% 7

Pelletized lime 200

K‐Mag granular (0‐0‐22) 100

Zinc 10% LS 10

Soil type: sandy loam, less than 1% organic matter

All fertilizers were applied preplant, broadcast

Month Average Precipitation

(inch)

May 5.93

June 4.19

July 4.64

August 3.41

Targeted for 1‐inch water per week

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Pest management

Large size triploid watermelons

30‐40 varieties from around 10 companies each year

Variety trial spacing; 4’ in‐row spacing; 8’ bed spacing.

Pollenizer 1:2 ratio. SP6 , SP7

* * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * *

Randomized complete block design, 3 replications, 12 plants per variety per replication

Fruit quality: 4 fruit per replication, 12 fruit per variety

Fruit were weighted individually

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Red Amber

• Developed by Enza Zaden. Evaluated in 2017 and 2018.• Medium green rind• Yield: 4th/38 in 2018, 1st/37 in 2017• Average fruit size 16.6 lb and 16.1 lb. Most in 45 count

Year < 9 lb 9‐13.5 lb

(60 count)

13.6‐17.5 lb

(45 count)

17.6‐21.4 lb

(36 count)

> 21.5 lb

(30 count)

2018 0 20 43 22 13

2017 2 23 41 23 11

• Good canopy

Bottle Rocket

• Developed by Seminis. Evaluated in 2017 and 2018• Medium to dark green rind• Yield: 2th/38 in 2018, 7st/37 in 2017• Average fruit size 17.4 lb (2018), 15.8 lb (2017)

Year < 9 lb 9‐13.5 lb

(60 count)

13.6‐17.5 lb

(45 count)

17.6‐21.4 lb

(36 count)

> 21.5 lb

(30 count)

2018 0 12 40 32 15

2017 0 29 37 24 9

• Relative high yield in early harvest• Good tolerance to Hollow heart

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Tailgate

• Developed by Seminis. Evaluated in 2018• Medium to dark green rind• Yield: 1th/38 in 2018• Average fruit size 18.5 lb (2018)

Year < 9 lb 9‐13.5 lb

(60 count)

13.6‐17.5 lb

(45 count)

17.6‐21.4 lb

(36 count)

> 21.5 lb

(30 count)

2018 0 6 37 37 20

• Good tolerance to Hollow heart, good canopy • Good quality

Traveler

• Developed by Harris Moran, Evaluated in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018• Yield: 3rd/38 (2018), 7th/46 (2016)• Medium to dark rind• Average fruit weight ranged from 12.9 – 15.1 lb, most in 60 and 45 count

Year Avg.

fruit (lb)

< 9 lb 9‐13.5 lb

(60 count)

13.6‐17.5 lb

(45 count)

17.6‐21.4 lb

(36 count)

> 21.5 lb

(30 count)

2018 15.1 0 34 42 18 5

2016 14.6 10 44 36 9 0

• Low yield in first harvest• Good canopy • High yield and less wilt in 2015 under Fusarium wilt

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Excursion

• Developed by Syngenta. Evaluated in 2016, 2017, 2018• Light to medium green rind• Yield: 7th/38 (2018), 28th/37 (2017), 3rd/46 (2016)• Consistent large fruit, average fruit weight 17.4‐17.7 lb

Year Avg.

fruit (lb)

< 9 lb 9‐13.5 lb

(60 count)

13.6‐17.5 lb

(45 count)

17.6‐21.4 lb

(36 count)

> 21.5 lb

(30 count)

2018 17.6 0 14 32 30 24

2017 17.4 0 18 31 37 14

2016 17.7 6 12 24 38 20

• Early ripening variety, consistent in three years

Exclamation

• Developed by Syngenta. Evaluated in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018• Medium green rind • Yield: 25th/38 (2018), 10th/37 (2017), 8th/46 (2016)• Average fruit weight 16.3‐16.8 lb

Year Avg.

fruit (lb)

< 9 lb 9‐13.5 lb

(60 count)

13.6‐17.5 lb

(45 count)

17.6‐21.4 lb

(36 count)

> 21.5 lb

(30 count)

2018 16.8 0 20 37 25 18

2017 16.3 2 17 45 30 5

2016 16.3 0 25 43 22 9

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• Developed by Nunhems, Evaluated in 2016, 2017, 2018• Medium to dark green rind• Moderate high yield: 11th/38 in 2018, 9st/37 in 2017, 11th/46 in 2016• Average fruit weight 14.6 – 16.7, majority in 45 count

Embasy

Warrior

• Developed by Nunhems, evaluated in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018• Light to medium green rind.• Yield: 18th/38 (2018), 5th /37 (2017), 12th/46 (2016)• Fruit size: 14.7‐16.9 lb, most in 45 count category

Yellow and orange‐fleshed watermelon varieties tend to have the most severe hollowheart symptoms.

Treasure Chest Orange Crisp Amarillo

Baby Doll Orangeglo Sorbet Swirl

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Personal‐size triploid watermelons

Year Variety Number

2018 10

2017 4

2016 4

Pollenizer

2’ in‐row spacing, 6’ bed spacing

Pollenizers in one row of every three rows of personal‐size triploid watermelon

Year Weight per acre

Num. of fruit per acre

Avg. weight (lb)

2018 64,416 7,222 8.1

2017 66,167 7,865 8.4

2016 70,334 8,224 8.5

Average 66,972 7,770 8.3

Year ˂ 6 lb 6‐8 lb 8‐10 lb 10‐12 lb ˃ 12 lb

2018 6 30 38 16 9

2017 7 39 40 10 4

2016 5 37 39 13 5

Extazy

Percentages of fruit in weight categories

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Year Lb/a Num. /a Avg. weight (lb)

2018 43,339 6,012 7.2

2016 32,595 4,594 7.2


2016 45,368 7,033 6.44

Ocelot

Serval

LadybelleYear Lb/a Num. /a Avg. weight

(lb)

2018 60,897 8,319 7.3

2017 51,745 7,613 6.8

MiniBee


2017 58,077 8,268 7.0

Cantaloupes

Eastern‐type Cantaloupe Varieties

Athena Aphrodite

Astound Accolade

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0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

Aphrodite Athena Accolade Astound

Marketable yield (lb/acre)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8


Average fruit weight (lb)

a

c b b

0

2

4

6

8

10

12


Sugar content

0

1

2

3

4

5

6


Firmness (lbs‐force)

a ab

c

Variety comparison from 2016‐2018

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Accolade

Aphrodite

Astound

Athen

a

Dainty

Da Vinci

F39

Flourish

Fondness

Golden Aroma

HD 150

Honeydew

252

Infinite Gold

Miracle

OC 164

Prity

Red

Aroma

Sheb

a

USA

M 14836

USA

M 14837

USA

M 16141

Melon sugar content in 2018 trial (°Brix)

Miracle

Red Aroma

Sheba

Eastern cantaloupes may not be the best quality melons

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Harvest index has been an obstacle for growing other melon types in large scale

Yield reliability is another obstacle for growing other melon types in large scale

HD 150

0100200

300400500

600700

800900

1000

Accolade

Aphrodite

Astound

Athena

Dainty

Da Vinci

F39

Flourish

Fondness

Golden Aroma

HD 150

Honeyd

ew 252

Infinite Gold

Miracle

OC 164

Prity

Red

Aroma

Sheba

USA

M 14836

USA

M 14837

USA

M 16141

2018 cantaloupe variety trial bacterial wilt severity (AUDPC)

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41,324

39,24539,57639,949

24,794

20,031

32,339

28,438

18,471

21,589

15,209

26,237

31,888

18,66718,14119,578

25,415

12,404

34,248

26,565

31,831

Marketable Yield (lbs/acre)

But opportunities exist …… local market

Specialty melon variety trials conducted in Florida in open‐field

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High Tunnel melon variety trials, CONTINUE in 2019

Variety Type

Lilliput Cantaloupe

Inspire Cantaloupe

Sugar Cube Cantaloupe

French Orange French Charentais

Tasty Bites Anana × Charentais

Escorial French Charentais

Savor French Charentais

Artemis French Charentais

Four to six fruit were harvested from each plant

Melons were grown vertically on netting

Trials were conducted in West Lafayette and Vincennes, IN.PI: Petrus Langenhoven

https://ag.purdue.edu/arge/swpap/Pages/SWPAPPDFPresentstions.aspx

watermelon and cantaloupe varieties - purdue agriculture...known‐you seed nunhems/bayer sakata...

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