Identification and evaluation of lycopene content in watermelon germ-plasm resources

LIU Xiuyun; CAO Biting; YUE Dingyi; GU Weihong

doi:10.16861/j.cnki.zggc.2024.0626

Abstract：In order to explore watermelon germplasm with high lycopene content and excellent agronomic traits,the agro-nomic traits of 21 watermelon germplasm resources under facility cultivation were identified and evaluated,and the lyco-pene content was detected by ultra performance liquid chromatography.The results of identification and evaluation of agronomic traits showed that the development period of the 21 watermelon germplasm resources ranged from 27 to 42 days,with single fruit mass ranging from 1.71 to 8.53 kg.The soluble solid content at the edge of the fruit ranged from 7.00％to 10.20％,while the soluble solid at the center ranged from 10.00％to 14.80％.The lycopene content in fresh weight ranged from 46.53 to 95.78 μg·g-1,with a coefficient of variation of 17.84％.Among these,lycopene content of three germplasm resources were greater than 80 μg·g-1,categorized as watermelon germplasm with extremely high lyco-pene content,and seven germplasms ranged from 70.13 to 78.57 μg·g-1,categorized as watermelon germplasm with high lycopene content.The study also found that the flesh color of watermelon was significantly positively correlated with the content of lycopene,phytoene and y-carotene.Therefore,flesh color can be used as a core agronomic trait for the identi-fying and selecting watermelon germplasm with high lycopene content.The small fruit watermelon germplasm Wl-11 and the large fruit watermelon germplasm All-Sweet Scarlet,with fruit development periods of 27 days and 42 days,respectively,can be used as direct or indirect parents for breeding high-quality,high-yield and disease-resistant watermelon varieties with high lycopene content.