Yield Stability of Melon Genotypes under Drought Stress Conditions

Document Type : Research paper

Authors

1 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding Sciences, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Horticulture, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Development of cultivars with high yield under normal conditions and maintaining their yield under abiotic stresses is the main purpose of plant breeding programs in arid and semi-arid areas. The present study aimed to evaluate the yield stability of a collection of commercial melon varieties under drought stress. The trial was conducted in a field under normal conditions (plants were irrigated after 50 mm evaporation of a class A evaporation pan) and drought stress conditions (irrigation was carried out after 100 mm evaporation of a class A evaporation pan). In average, 3.32 kg fruit/plant and 2.76 kg fruit/plant were obtained under normal and drought stress conditions, respectively. The highest reduction in yield as the consequence of drought exposure was recorded for 'Mazandarani' (52%) and 'Samsoori' (48%). The most drought-tolerant genotypes were 'Mamaghani', 'Nahavandi', 'Shadegan', 'Crenshaw' and 'Suski-e-Sabz' as they had constant yield under both growing conditions. On the other hand, 'Samsoori' and 'Saveh' were the most sensitive genotypes to drought. For most of the measured traits, the values of broad-sense heritability were over 0.50 i.e. there was a large genetic diversity among melon genotypes. This variation can be utilized for selecting high potential fruit yield and drought-tolerant genotypes. Total soluble solids (TSS) (ºBrix) was 15.2% for 'Honey-Dew'. TSS (ºBrix) was obtained 10.7, 10.09, and 9.2% for Iranian genotypes of 'Khatooni', 'Samsoori', and 'Saveh', respectively. In conclusion, although some Iranian melon genotypes were recognized as drought tolerant, they need to be improved for TSS (ºBrix).

Keywords

References

Aghapour Sabbaghi M, Nazari M, Araghinejad S, Soufizadeh S. 2020. Economic impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in Zayandehroud river basin in Iran. Agricultural Water Management 241, 106323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106323
Argyris JM, Díaz A, Ruggieri V, Fernández M, Jahrmann T, Gibon Y, Picó B, Martín-Hernández AM, Monforte AJ, Garcia-Mas J. 2017. QTL analyses in multiple populations employed for the fine mapping and identification of candidate genes at a locus affecting sugar accumulation in melon (Cucumis melo L.). Frontiers in Plant Science 8, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.01679
Barzegar T, Delshad M, Majdabadi A, Kashi A, Ghashghaei J. 2012. Effects of water stress on yield, growth and some physiological parameters in Iranian melon. Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science 42, 357–363.
Basnayake J, Jackson PA, Inman-Bamber NG, Lakshmanan P. 2015. Sugarcane for water-limited environments. Variation in stomatal conductance and its genetic correlation with crop productivity. Journal of Experimental Botany 66(13), 3945–3958.
Blum A. 2011. Plant breeding for water-limited environments, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Feyzian E, Dehghani H, Rezai AM, Jalali M. 2009. Correlation and sequential path model for some yield-related traits in melon (Cucumis melo L.). Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 11(3),341–53.
Guliyev N, Sharifova S, Ojaghi J, Abbasov M, Akparov Z. 2018. Genetic diversity among melon (Cucumis melo L.) accessions revealed by morphological traits and ISSR markers. Turkish J. Agric. For. 42, 393–401. https://doi.org/10.3906/tar-1707-18
Guttieri MJ, Stark JC, O’Brien K, Souza E. 2001. Relative Sensitivity of Spring Wheat Grain Yield and Quality Parameters to Moisture Deficit. Crop Science 41, 327–335. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2001.412327x
Jacob W, Kijne RB, DM. 2003. Water productivity in agriculture :limits and opportunities for improvement.
Mirabad AA, Lotfi M, Roozban MR. 2013. Impact of water-deficit stress on growth, yield and sugar content of Cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L.). International Journal of Agriculture and Crop Sciences 6, 605–609.
Naroui Rad MR, Mohammad Ghasemi M, Abbas Koohpayegani J. 2017. Evaluation of Melon (Cucumis Melo. L) Genotypes Aiming Effective Selection of Parents for Breeding Directed at High Yield under Drought Stress Condition. Journal of Horticultural Research 25, 125–134. https://doi.org/10.1515/johr-2017-0013
Pouyesh A, Lotfi M, Ramshini H, Karami E, Shamsitabar A, Armiyoun E. 2017. Genetic analysis of yield and fruit traits in cantaloupe cultivars. Plant Breeding 136, 569–577. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12486
Rashidi M, Gholami M. 2008. Review of Crop Water Productivity values for tomato, potato, melon, watermelon and cantaloupe in Iran. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology 10, 432–436.
Sharma S. 1995. Applied multivariate techniques. John Wiley & Sons.
Shi W, Wang M, Liu Y. 2021. Crop yield and production responses to climate disasters in China. Science of the Total Environment 750, 141147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141147
Topal A, Aydin C, Akgun N, Babaoglu M. 2004. Diallel cross analysis in durum wheat ( Triticum durum Desf .): identification of best parents for some kernel physical features. Field crops research 87,1–12.
Wang YH, Wu DH, Huang JH, Tsao SJ, Hwu KK, Lo HF. 2016. Mapping quantitative trait loci for fruit traits and powdery mildew resistance in melon (Cucumis melo). Botanical Studies 57. 1-12.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40529-016-0130-1
Zhang H, Gong G, Guo S, Ren Y Xu, Y Ling, KS. 2011. Screening the USDA watermelon germplasm collection for drought tolerance at the seedling stage. HortScience 46, 1245–1248. https://doi.org/10.21273/hortsci.46.9.1245
International Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology
Volume 9, Issue 2
April 2022
Pages 185-199

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 29 April 2021
  • Revise Date: 21 July 2021
  • Accept Date: 22 September 2021

Share

How to cite

Statistics