Sugars in Developing and Mature Fruits of Several Watermelon Cultivars1,2

Abstract

Abstract Sugars in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai] cultivars grown at Leesburg, Florida, were determined by liquid chromatography in 1976, 1977, and 1979. There was a wide variation among cultivars in the ratio of total reducing sugars, fructose plus glucose, to the nonreducing sugar, sucrose. This ratio was dependent upon cultivar and stage of maturity. In 1979, sugars in developing fruit of 8 watermelon cultivars were determined at 7 intervals from 12 to 36 days after anthesis. Initial development of sugar was more rapid in the cultivars ‘Sugarlee’, ‘Crimson Sweet’, ‘Dixielee’, and ‘Yellow Baby’ than in ‘Charleston Gray’ and ‘Jubilee’. Early development of sugar is especially important for production of high quality fruit when melons are harvested before full maturity for the commercial trade. In general, fructose and glucose increased until the 24th day and declined thereafter, whereas sucrose was not detected until the 20th day and increased thereafter. The relative sweetness at all stages was calculated.