Abstract
Barattiere and Carosello are typical melon (Cucumis melo L.) landraces of Puglia’s (Southern Italy) biodiversity. Their unripe fruits are locally consumed as an alternative to cucumbers (C. sativus L.) and are appreciated for their qualitative profile. Nevertheless, they are underutilized crops. For the high variability and confusing denominations, a morphological characterization is essential to discriminate and valorise landraces; additionally, it is fundamental to implement the agronomic technique to allow the cultivation outside the natural growth period (summer) by soilless cultivation. Two genotypes of Barattiere (‘Allungato’ and ‘Tondo’), two of Carosello (‘Scopatizzo’ and ‘Tomentoso’ (CAT)) and two of cucumber (‘Baby Star’ and ‘Modan’ hybrids) were vertically grown in the winter–spring period in a rockwool soilless system in a glasshouse with supplemental light. Landraces were characterized by morpho-physiological descriptors of melon; fruit biometrics and colour were analysed for all genotypes; productive parameters, leaf fluorescence, and chlorophyll content were measured. Genotypes varied in seeds, stem, leaf, fruit traits and they were andromonoecious; Carosello flowered earlier and produced more than Barattiere; CAT fruits were hairy and elongate, while other genotypes tended to rounder and glabrous fruits. Although landraces grew slower than cucumbers, both produced marketable fruits and the production of Carosello was comparable to cucumbers. In conclusion, Barattiere and Carosello have a productive potential and one vertically trained stem in a soilless system is appropriate for their extra-seasonal production.
Highlights
C. melo, this study focused on four landraces of C. melo, two of Carosello and two of Barattiere, which are commonly subjected to identification mistakes, with the following aims: describe and characterize their morphology and to compare their productive potential to commercial hybrids of cucumber (C. sativus), in a rockwool soilless system with supplementary LED lamps with vertically trained plants
Landraces of Carosello and Barattiere are characterized by a considerable intraspecific variability at the phenotypic level, which was confirmed by the application of morphophysiological descriptors to the tested genotypes [8]
Considering that they belong to the same species, the botanic characters were shared between genotypes [31], whereas the main differences were detected in relation to the shape, size, colour, and pubescence of the examined organs (Table 1)
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Carosello and Barattiere are taxonomically melons, their fruits are harvested at the immature stage to be consumed fresh and raw, in salads or without dressings [1]. They have a tendentially green peel and differ in shape (from cylindrical to rounded) and in pubescence (abundant, reduced, or absent). C. melo, this study focused on four landraces of C. melo, two of Carosello and two of Barattiere, which are commonly subjected to identification mistakes, with the following aims: describe and characterize their morphology and to compare their productive potential to commercial hybrids of cucumber (C. sativus), in a rockwool soilless system with supplementary LED lamps with vertically trained plants
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