Abstract
BackgroundSnake melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus, “Faqqous”) is a traditional and ancient vegetable in the Mediterranean area. A collection of landraces from 42 grower fields in Israel and Palestinian territories was grown and characterized in a “Common Garden” rain-fed experiment, at the morphological-horticultural and molecular level using seq-DArT markers.ResultsThe different landraces (“populations”) showed extensive variation in morphology and quantitative traits such as yield and femaleness, and clustered into four horticultural varieties. Yield was assessed by five harvests along the season, with middle harvests producing the highest yields. Yield correlated with early vigor, and with femaleness, but not with late vigor. At the molecular level, 2784 SNP were produced and > 90% were mapped to the melon genome. Populations were very polymorphic (46–72% of the markers biallelic in a 4 individuals sample), and observed heterozygosity was higher than the expected, suggesting gene flow among populations and extensive cross pollination among individuals in the field. Genetic distances between landraces were significantly correlated with the geographical distance between collecting sites, and with long term March precipitation average; variation in yield correlated with April temperature maxima.ConclusionsThe extensive variation suggests that selection of local snake melon could result in yield improvement. Correlations between traits and climatic variables could suggest local adaptation of landraces to the diverse environment in which they evolved. This study stresses the importance of preserving this germplasm, and its potential for breeding better snake melons as an heirloom crop in our region.
Highlights
Snake melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus, “Faqqous”) is a traditional and ancient vegetable in the Mediterranean area
Evaluation of a snake melon collection in a common garden set up In a previous study, snake melon (“Faqqous”) accessions were collected in Israel and the West Bank [16]
Twelve plants of each population, (3 replicates × 4 plants, ca. 560 plants in total), were sown in a common field in Sandala, Yezre’el Valley, following the traditional, rain-fed agricultural practice used for snake melon, as described in the Methods
Summary
Snake melon (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus, “Faqqous”) is a traditional and ancient vegetable in the Mediterranean area. Landraces exhibit fine adaptation to the specific environment in which they have evolved under domestication. They often harbor rich genetic diversity, important for traditional agriculture sustainability, that has been eroded in modern cultivars [1, 2]. Israel is located on the border of three different phytogeographical zones: the Mediterranean, Saharo-Arabian, and Irano-Turanian zones, respectively [3]. In addition to natural factors, domestic landraces are affected by active human agricultural practices, that directly shape plant phenology and anatomy, and exert selective
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