• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.529-534
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• 2010

Occurrence of wilted symptom in watermelon plant ($Citrullus$ $lanatus$ L.) is known to be caused by physiological disorder. The symptom results in the loss of fruit production and thus the economical loss of watermelon growers. The incidence of symptom is often found from the middle of March to the end of May in the major watermelon crop production areas of Korea (i.e. Uiryeong, Gyeongnam (lat $37^{\circ}$56'64"N, long $126^{\circ}$99'97"E)). Despite of extensive information about the physiological disorder, little study has been conducted to understand a relationship between the wilted symptom and accompanying environment factors (e.g. temperature). This study aimed to investigate effects of environmental conditions amended by a forced-ventilation system on physiological characteristics of watermelon and incidence of the wilted symptom. Watermelon plants were grown from January to May, 2009 with either the forced-or natural-ventilation treatment in a greenhouse located in the Uiryeong. In the result, the forced-ventilation treatment decreased the air, leaf and root-zone temperature approximately $4.5^{\circ}C$, $5^{\circ}C$ and $3^{\circ}C$, respectively, compared to the natural-ventilation. The fruit growth rate was maximized twice during the entire growing period. The higher rate of fruit growth was observed under the natural-ventilation than the forced one. Maximization of the fruit growth rate (approximately 430 g per day) was first observed by 12 days after fruiting under the natural-ventilation treatment, while the second one (approximately 350 g per day) was observed by 24 days after fruiting. The wilted symptom started occurring by 22 days after fruiting under the natural-ventilation, whereas no incidence of the symptom was found under the forced-ventilation treatment. Interestingly, the forced-ventilation lowered the fruit growth rate (approximately 320 g per day) compared to the natural one. Maximization of the fruit growth rate under the forced-ventilation was found at 4 days later than that under the natural one. This result coincided with a slower plant growth under the forced-ventilation treatment. These results suggest that the forced-ventilation slows down extension growth of fruit and plant, which may be associated with lowering leaf temperature and saturation deficit. We suggest the hypothesis that the forced-ventilation may alleviate stress of the wilted symptom by avoiding extreme water evaporation from leaves due to high temperature and thus by reducing competition between leaves and fruits for water. More direct and detailed investigations are needed to confirm the effect of the forced ventilation.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.239-246
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• 1994

The genotypic (2n, 3n, 4n) response of watermelon in vitro shoot tip culture was evaluated. Different genotypes had similar response in terms of shoot formation and growth. Shoot formation was better at lower concentration of 0.3 mg/L BA and higher concentration of 5-10.0 mg/L 2iP and kinetin, but growth of newly formed shoot was inhibited. With further subculture, kinetin did not promote shoot formation Better shoot formation was observed at 0.3-0.5 mg/L BA. Combination of 0.3 mg/L BA and 0.3-0.5 mg/L BA was effective in shoot multiplication, growth and induction of more internodes. Varrying levels of light intensity and agar concentration did not affect the performance of tetraploid plants. Higher light intensity and agar concentrations decreased the number of shoot formed in triploid plane. Growth in both genotype, however was inhibited. Higher light intensity was found to promote leaf senescence in all genotypes. All growth inhibitors decreased the number of shoots formed and slowed plant growth there by prolonging duration of cultures. Growth inhibitors were to observed to decrease incidence of hyperhydricity in culture. No difference in shoot formation was observed in each of the concentrations used in Ancymidol, TIBA, CCC and PP333. Shoot formation and growth was more inhibited in ABA treatments. Leaf expansion and growth was poor in all treatments.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.302-307
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to examine the optimum wattage and installation height using nano-carbon fiber infrared heating lamp (NCFIHL) for heating energy saving and plug seedling production in plug seedling production greenhouse in winter season. NCFIHL of 700 and 900 W was installed over the bed ($1.2{\times}2.4m$) as 0.7, 1.0, and 1.3 m height, respectively, for the production of grafted watermelon seedling in venlo-type glasshouse. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Manst.) 'Jijonggul' and gourd (Lagenaria leucantha Rusby.) 'Sunbongjang' were used as scions and rootstocks, respectively. The scions and rootstocks were grafted by single cotyledon ordinary splice grafting. Light intensity of NCFIHL was below the $1{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ in all treatment. Spectral distributions of NCFIHL presented mostly infrared area. When outside air temperature was below $10^{\circ}C$, 700 and 900 W NCFIHL installed with 0.7 m height treatment and 900 W NCFIHL installed with 1.0 m height treatment maintained the setting air temperature ($20^{\circ}C$) at night. In the result of taking thermal imaging, the grafted watermelons were getting warm fast in 900 W NCFIHL installed with 0.7 m height treatment at night. Compactness of the grafted watermelons was the greatest in 700 W NCFIHL installed with 1.3 m height treatment. The results indicate that NCFIHL installed above 1.0 m height using 700 W was suitable for production of plug seedling.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.242-249
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• 2018

This study was conducted to develop an SNP set that can be useful for marker-assisted breeding (MAB) in watermelon (Citrullus. lanatus L) using Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) analysis of 20 commercial elite watermelon inbreds. The result of GBS showed that 77% of approximately 1.1 billion raw reads were mapped on the watermelon genome with an average mapping region of about 4,000 Kb, which indicated genome coverage of 2.3%. After the filtering process, a total of 2,670 SNPs with an average depth of 31.57 and the PIC (Polymorphic Information Content) value of 0.1~0.38 for 20 elite inbreds were obtained. Among those SNPs, 55 SNPs (5 SNPs per chromosome that are equally distributed on each chromosome) were selected. For the understanding genetic relationship of 20 elite inbreds, PCA (Principal Component Analysis) was carried out with 55 SNPs, which resulted in the classification of inbreds into 4 groups based on PC1 (52%) and PC2 (11%), thus causing differentiation between the inbreds. A similar classification pattern for PCA was observed from hierarchical clustering analysis. The SNP set developed in this study has the potential for application to cultivar identification, F1 seed purity test, and marker-assisted backcross (MABC) not only for 20 elite inbreds but also for diverse resources for watermelon breeding.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.345-349
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• 2013

Physicochemical characteristics of Citrullus lanatus cv. Mudeungsan and 5 other cultivars of Citrullus lanatus were investigated. The color of watermelon (redness) was not significantly different among the cultivars. Hardness ranged from 38.76 to 52.12 force (g) among cultivars. Soluble solid content in Taeyangggul and Mudeungsan were higher than that in other cultivars. pH ranged from 5.39 to 6.02 among cultivars, and total acidity was the highest in Mudeungsan (0.147 mg/100 g). No significant difference in total carotenoid content was observed among the cultivars. Lycopene content in Mudeungsan cultivar was higher than that in other cultivars. Citrullin contents of watermelon flesh and rind in Mudeungsan and GangryeokSambok were higher than those in other cultivars. The major free sugars of watermelon were sucrose and fructose, and the predominant organic acids were succinic acid and citric acid. In conclusion, Mudeungsan cultivar had better properties as outlined above and contained soluble solids and functional components, compared to the other watermelon cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.98-107
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• 2007

Most of plastic film house plots in Korea have salinity problems caused by salt accumulations associated with continuous cropping including the heavy applications of chemical fertilizers, and high evapotranspiration. The objective of this study was to investigate soil properties and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) productivity in plastic film houses as influenced by the short-term crop rotation in the continuous watermelon-cultivated soils. The short-term rotational crops selected were corn, Chinese cabbage, radish, young radish, lettuce, spinach, and onion. Soil pH increased in most plots where a short-term crop was added to the crop rotation, except where radish was added. The content of soil organic matter significantly decreased in the lettuce-cultivated plot. The available phosphorus content in the soils increased with the cultivations of spinach and onion. Exchangeable Ca and Mg tended to increase in most of plots where a short-term rotational crop was grown, whereas the exchangeable K was clearly reduced by more than 50% in the same plots. Cultivation of rotational crops during the post-harvest season significantly decreased the electrical conductivity (EC) and the concentrations of soluble anions, such as chloride ($Cl^-$), nitrate ($NO_3{^-}$), and sulfate ($SO{_4}^{2-}$) in the soils. In particular, the EC decrease was related with the decrease in soil $K^+$ to $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$ ratio. In all plots cultivated with the shot-term rotational crops, the ratios of bacteria to fungi (B/F) increased. However, the improvement in soil properties after adding a rotational crop did not result in a clear improvement in watermelon quantity or quality as measured by fruit weight and sugar content. Therefore, the addition of short-term rotational crops to a continuous watermelon cropping system would be beneficial to improve target soil properties in plastic film house plots studied.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.486-494
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• 2021

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) is sensitive to low temperature and shows retarded growth under 10℃. Although early transplanting guarantees higher returns, it requires cost and labor to maintain the appropriate temperature for plant growth. Therefore, cultivars tolerant to chilling stress is necessary to reduce the cost and labor requirements. The purpose of this study is to analyze data on plant growth and fruit enlargement under continuous chilling night temperature to develop new cultivars tolerant to chilling temperature. Two cultivars expected to have chilling tolerance and another cultivar sensitive to chilling temperature were grown in greenhouses with chilling and optimal night temperature conditions. In the early growth stage after transplanting, the cultivars expected to have chilling tolerance showed better vine length, fresh weight and dry weight. However, one of the tolerant cultivars showed significantly lower vine length, leaf length and width, and petiole length than the sensitive cultivar during pollination period and later growth stage, showing genotype specific responses. The fruit length, width, and weight were also significantly lower in the tolerant cultivar. The fruit set ratio was significantly higher in the chilling sensitive cultivar than the two tolerant cultivars. These results suggest that the present chilling tolerant cultivars in watermelon were selected based on their performance in the early growth stage, and further studies on chilling tolerance in different growth and development stages are required to develop cultivars adapted to various forcing cultivation systems.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.08a
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• pp.33-33
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• 2020

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a non-seasonal, economically important, cucurbit cultivated throughout the world with Asia as a continent contributing the most. As part of the effort in diversifying watermelon genetic resources in the already cultivated group, this study was devoted to providing baseline data on morphological quality traits and health-beneficial phytonutrients of watermelon germplasm collections, thereby promoting watermelon research and cultivation programs. To this end, we reported morphological traits, citrulline, and arginine levels of watermelon genetic resources obtained from the gene bank of Agrobiodiversity Center, Republic of Korea, and discussed the relationship between each other. Diverse characteristics were observed among many of the traits. But, most of the genetic resources (>90%) were either red or pink-fleshed. Korean origin fruits contained intermediate levels of soluble solid content (SSC) while The USA, Russian, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Taiwan, and Uruguay originated had generally the highest levels of soluble solids. The citrulline and arginine contents using HPLC method were ranged from 6.9 to 52.1 mg/g (average, 27.3 mg/g) and 1.8 to 21.3 mg/g (average, 9.8 mg/g), respectively. The citrulline content determined using Citrulline Assay Kit was ranged from 6.5 to 42.8 mg/g (average, 27.0 mg/g). Resources with high citrulline and arginine levels contained low SSC. Whereas, red- and pink-colored flesh samples had less citrulline compared to yellow and orange. In addition to the profiling of morphological characters and phytonutrients, molecular marker characterization and identification of sources of resistance to diseases and pests are recommended for a more complete diversity analysis of watermelon genetic resources.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.108-120
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• 2017

Modern watermelon cultivars (Citrullus lanatus [Thunb.] Matsum.& Nakai var. lanatus) have fruits with diverse phenotypes, including fruit shape, rind patterns, and flesh color. Molecular markers enable efficient selection of plants harboring desirable phenotypes. In the present study, publicly available DNA markers tightly linked to fruit shape, rind stripe pattern, and flesh color were evaluated using 85 watermelon accessions with diverse fruit phenotypes. For fruit shape, the dCAPS SUN - Cla011257 marker revealed an 81% of marker - trait match for accessions with elongated or round fruits. For rind stripe pattern, the SCAR wsb6-11marker was effective for selecting Jubilee-type rind pattern from other rind patterns. For flesh color, the Clcyb.600 and Lcyb markers derived from a mutation in the Lycopene ${\beta}$ - cyclase (Lcyb) gene, were effective at selecting red or yellow flesh. Forty-eight accessions possessing diverse fruit - related traits were selected as a reference array and their genetic relationships assessed using 16 SSR markers. At a coefficient of 0.11, the 48 accessions grouped into two major clades: Clade I and Clade II. Clade I subdivided further into subclades I - 1 and I - 2 at a coefficient of 0.39. All accessions with colored flesh were classified into Clade I, whereas those with white - flesh were classified into Clade II. Differences in fruit traits between subclades I - 1 and I - 2 were observed for rind pattern and fruit color; a majority of the accessions with Crimson-type striped or non-striped rind were grouped together in subclade I - 1, while most accessions in subclade I - 2 had a Jubilee - type rind stripe pattern. These results imply that reference array watermelon accessions possess distinguishable genetic structure based on rind stripe pattern. However, no significant grouping pattern was observed based on other fruit-related traits.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.141.2-142
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• 2003

A flexuous rod-shaped virus was isolated from Cucurbita pepo leaves showing green mosaic and puckering symptoms at Anseong, Korea. Based on the biological tests, electron microscopy, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the isolate was identified as Papaya ringspot virus type Watermelon (PRSV-W). In the biological test, host range of PRSV-W was limited in the families Cucurbitaceae and Chenopodiaceae. Most susceptible cucurbit species, such as Cucurmis lanatus, Cucurmis sativus, Cucurbita pepo, and Citrullus lanatus, responded to mechanical inoculation by PRSV-W that induce green mosaic, malformation, puckering, and narrow laminae. The local lesion symptoms were produced on the inoculated leaves of Chenopodium maranticolor and C. quinoa PRSV specific primers which amplifies the part of the coat protein (CP) genes, generated a 648 bp product from 6 isolates of PRSV-W, but no amplification had been detected in other viruses including CMV, CGMMV, KGMMV, ZYMV and WMV. In electron microscopy, PRSV particles were flexuous, approximately 780 nm in length and 12 nm in width. PRSV-W is one of the worldwide viruses which has the great economic importance in cucumber, melon, squash, watermelon, and other cultivated cucurbits with ZYMV and WMV. This is the first report of PRSV-W on cucurbits in Korea.