ISHS Acta Horticulturae 761: XXVII International Horticultural Congress - IHC2006: International Symposium on Advances in Environmental Control, Automation and Cultivation Systems for Sustainable, High-Quality Crop Production under Protected Cultivation
FRUIT QUALITY OF SEEDLESS WATERMELON PRODUCED BY POLLINATION WITH INACTIVATED POLLEN IN AN EXTENDER MEDIUM |
| Authors: | K. Sugiyama, T. Muro |
| Keywords: | soft X-ray, volume increasing material, Marriage-Powder, pollination |
| Abstract:
The inactivation of pollen by soft X-ray irradiation and subsequent artificial pollination are time-intensive practices used in the production of seedless watermelon. We are attempting to develop an extender medium (volume increasing material) of pollen, with the aim of providing irradiated pollen for farmers. Pollen was collected from the small-sized watermelon cultivar ‘Hitorijime 7’ and the large-sized ‘Fujihikari TR’, inactivated by soft X-ray irradiation and mixed with, the extender medium. ‘Marriage-Powder’ and agar were used as extender materials at 2, 4, 8 or 16 times the pollen weight. The fruit set ratio of inactivated pollen in ‘Marriage-Powder’ medium was better than the agar medium. The mixture with twice the pollen weight of ‘Marriage powder’ was the best to use for actual cultivation. The use of extender pollen did not affect fruit size, color, rind thickness or Brix. However, deformed fruits sometimes appeared in agar medium. We concluded that ‘Marriage-Powder’ was superior to agar and it could be adapted to produce seedless watermelons within 2 times the pollen weight. | |
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