ISHS Acta Horticulturae 492: I International Symposium on Cucurbits
MULTIPLE VARIABLES EVALUATION OF SOME MELON HYBRIDS (C. MELO L. VAR. RETICULATUS NAUD.) |
| Authors: | S. BENEDETTELLI, G. CHISCI, A. NENCINI, R. TESI |
| Keywords: | Muskmelon, fruit quality, discriminant analysis, cluster analysis |
| Abstract:
The productivity of 16 melon hybrids was compared during 2 years of trials. The data collected for the comparison were the following: total yield (t/ha), marketable yield (t/ha), fruits number per plant, mean fruits weight (kg), total soluble solids (°Brix), skin thickness (cm), flesh thickness (cm), flesh firmness (kg/cm2), shape index of fruit. The single variables analysis was reported to asses the relative performance of the hybrids. Aiming to a classification of the studied melon hybrids, discriminant analysis was used utilizing all variables considered; to point out the relationships existing between the analyzed characters a path analysis was performed.. Using correlation between the original variables and the calculated discriminant functions it was possible to show that the most important discriminant characters between studied hybrids are represented by the mean fruit weight, flesh firmness and skin thickness. The hierarchical cluster analysis was finally applied to the data. The builded dendrogram coming from the analysis has shown that the 16 hybrids can be clustered in the following groups: - a) a main group with 7 hybrids - b) other three groups with two hybrid each. This result allows to hypotize the similar origin of the hybrids belonging to the main group, in which an older hybrid of success (Supermarket hybrid), that was probably utilized as genetic source by the Breeders, is included. The marketable yield is depending on the total yield, but it is also negatively influenced by flesh firmness and skin thickness, which probably affect melon fruit craking. The soluble solid content resulted also positively influenced by mean fruit weight. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
