229 Influence of Diploid Pollinizers on Seedless Watermelon Yield and Quality

Abstract

Due to the lack of viable pollen produced in seedless (triploid) watermelons, fruit set in seedless watermelons requires a standard seed (diploid) producing cultivar (hereafter referred to as a pollinizer) to be interplanted as a source of pollen. It is recommended that one row of pollinizer be planted for every two rows of seedless watermelon. There is little to no information available to growers comparing the effects of pollinizers on seedless watermelon yield and quality. We conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of three seeded pollinizers (`Crimson Sweet', `Fiesta', and `Royal Sweet') on yield and quality of four seedless watermelon hybrids (`Abbott and Cobb 5244', `Crimson Trio', `Millionaire', and `Tri-X 313'). `Royal Sweet' as a pollinizer tended to produce higher yields of small (<3.6 kg) and medium-sized seedless watermelons (3.6-7.3 kg) per acre compared to `Crimson Sweet' and `Fiesta'. `Crimson Sweet' produced a greater number of large (>7.3 kg) seedless watermelons compared to `Fiesta' and `Royal Sweet'. However, the number of marketable melons (>3.6 kg) did not differ among the three pollinizers evaluated. Two quality measurements taken (hollow heart and soluble sugars) were not influenced by the choice of pollinizer.