Specialty Cantaloupe Variety Performance

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1 Specialty Cantaloupe Variety Performance Petrus Langenhoven, Ph.D. Horticulture and Hydroponics Crops Specialist February 13, Outline of Presentation Background Materials and Methods Results Conclusion 2 1

2 Background 3 Background Indiana is a very important player in the domestic melon market Total acreage planted in Indiana peaked in 1997: 3,600 acres Total production was 455,000 cwt with an average income of $16.00 per cwt Total farm value of production was $7,280,000 ($2,022 per acre) Yield has increased since 1997 from 130 cwt per acre to 230 cwt per acre in 2014 The Indiana melon growers have lost a significant share of the melon market since the 2011 and 2012 food borne illness outbreak 4 2

3 Quick Facts about Indiana Cantaloupe Year Acres Planted Yield (cwt per acre) Value of Production Value of Production per Acre Production (cwt) Value per cwt , $7,280,000 $2, ,000 $ , $12,698,000 $4, ,000 $ , $10,487,000 $4, ,000 $ , $11,500,000 $5, ,000 $ , $5,980,000 $3, ,000 $ , $7,616,000 $4, ,000 $ , $7,245,000 $4, ,000 $23.00 Average price per melon: $0.70 $ Quick Facts about Indiana Cantaloupe Mainly planted in southwest Indiana Transplant Production: March/April Planting Season: April June Harvest Season: June Sept. Plant Population (2.5 ft. x 6 ft.): 2,904 plants per acre U.S. ranking in 2016: 4 th in terms of production 6 3

4 Goals and Objective Develop solutions to reverse the decrease in acreage, market share and associated risk of food borne illness Long term goal is to increase the planted acreage, farm productivity and profit margins for Indiana melon growers In the short term we can address the demand for high quality smaller fruit (e.g. personalized melons), which would entail the continuous evaluation of a market driven selection of melon types that are currently not being grown in Indiana Objective of this study was (1) to evaluate the productivity and quality of a selection of specialty Cantaloupe and Charentais melon varieties in the field, (2) and to determine production economics 7 Materials and Methods 8 4

5 Material and Methods Specialty melons were produced using conventional production techniques Eight varieties were tested at the Throckmorton/Meigs PAC, Lafayette, IN Sow date: 5/23/2017 Germination date: 5/27/2017 Plant date: 6/12/2017 Raised beds, mulch, drip tape Between row spacing: 7 feet 8 inches on center of beds In row spacing: 2.5 feet Plant density: 19.2 sq. ft. per plant or 2,273 plants per acre 10 plants per variety per replicate, 5 replicates, randomized block design Planting rows were orientated east west 9 Material and Methods Irrigation was applied as needed Heavy rain experienced in July Pesticides were applied to control cucumber beetles and powdery mildew Melons were harvested once per week At harvest fruit count and weight per plot was recorded. A sub sample of three melons per plot were used to measure width and length of the fruit Internally, seed cavity length and width, and Brix (%SS) measurements were recorded First harvest date: 8/7/2017 (56 DAT) Last harvest date: 8/28/2017 (77 DAT) 10 5

6 Specialty Cantaloupe and Charentais Varieties Tested # Variety Name Type Days to Fruit size Shape Maturity (kg) Flesh color Disease Package 1 Lilliput Cantaloupe 80 Round Orange F2, PM 2 Inspire Cantaloupe 65 Semi round Bright orange 3 Sugar Cube Cantaloupe 80 Round 0.9 Deep orange PM FW, ZYMV, PRSV, WMV 4 French Orange Charentais 75 Round to oval 1.1 Deep orange F3, PM 5 Tasty Bites Ananas x Charentais 80 Round to oval Light orange AB, F3, PM 6 Escorial French Charentais 72 Round to oval 0.9 Dark orange F2, PM 7 Savor French Charentais 78 Round to oval 0.9 Dark orange F3, PM 8 Artemis French Charentais 78 Round Deep orange F: 0, 2, PM:1, 2, 5 11 Sow date: 5/23/

7 6/14/2017 7/28/ Soil Analysis Sample ID Lab # Organic Matter Bray 1 Equiv K Mg Ca Na Soil ph Buffer ph CEC % K % Mg % Ca % H % ppm P ppm ppm ppm ppm meq/100g AVG P 2 O 5 K 2 O lb/acre

8 Plant Nutrition Pre plant fertilizer (lbs/acre) Applied a custom mix prior to bed making Additional N applied when beds are made and plastic is laid using Urea 130 N, 150 P 2 O 5, and 200 K 2 O No starter fertilizer was used No additional applications were done after transplanting 15 Results and Discussion 16 8

9 Lilliput Inspire Sugar Cubes French Orange Tasty Bites Escorial Savor Artemis 17 Plant Disease Challenges Variety performance was impacted by disease and insect pressure The main diseases were bacterial wilt (transferred by cucumber beetles) and powdery mildew Bacterial wilt affected about 27% of all the plants in this study Some varieties had plant casualties of up to 50% (French Orange, Escorial) of the original population. Least affected by bacterial wilt was Lilliput (14%) Most varieties had plant casualties of between 19% and 22% Powdery mildew affected most varieties accept Lilliput and Sugar Cubes Savor was the most affected by powdery mildew and as a result produced a much lower yield A low incidence of powdery mildew was observed on all other varieties (3% to 10%) 18 9

10 French Orange (8/14/2017) Escorial (8/8/2017) Escorial (7/28/2017) Bacterial Wilt 19 Powdery Mildew Savor (7/28/2017) Savor (8/24/2017) 20 10

11 Fruit Weight and Yield Variety Days to Maturity (Seed Company) Days to Maturity (Trial) # Fruit/plant Fruit Size (kg) (Seed Company) Fruit Size (kg) (Trial) Yield/plant (kg) # Fruit/Acre Yield (kg/acre) Lilliput ,668 15,490 Inspire ,288 19,518 Sugar Cubes ,307 19,661 French Orange ,580 13,659 Tasty Bites ,084 20,604 Escorial ,098 16,177 Savor ,680 5,655 Artemis ,581 15,568 Ideal: 0.9 to 1.8 kg 21 Fruit Characteristics, External Cultivar Name 1. Lilliput 2. Inspire 3. Sugar Cubes 4. French Orange 5. Tasty Bites 6. Escorial 7. Savor 8. Artemis

12 Fruit Characteristics, Internal 1 2 Lilliput Inspire 23 Fruit Characteristics, Internal 3 4 Sugar Cubes French Orange 24 12

13 Fruit Characteristics, Internal 5 6 Tasty Bites Escorial 25 Fruit Characteristics, Internal 7 8 Savor Artemis 26 13

14 Fruit Quality at Harvest Variety Brix (%SS) Fruit Seed Cavity Length (mm) Width (mm) Length (mm) Width (mm) Lilliput Inspire Sugar Cubes French Orange Tasty Bites Escorial Savor Artemis Class 1, >11 Class 2, 9 27 Conclusions 28 14

15 Conclusions: Fruit Size, Yield Lilliput, Inspire, Sugar Cubes and Tasty Bites produced the highest number of fruit per acre However, Inspire, Sugar Cubes, Tasty Bites and Escorial produced the highest yield All varieties met the fruit size criteria set out at the onset of the study. Lilliput and Sugar Cubes produced the smallest perfectly round fruit followed by French Orange, Savor and Artemis Lilliput and Sugar Cubes also had the smallest seed cavity 29 Conclusions: Sweetness, Defects Escorial produced fruit with the highest total soluble solids content (14.2%) followed by Artemis (13.9%), French Orange (13.4%), Sugar Cubes and Lilliput (13.3%). Most varieties produced fruit with a total soluble solids content higher than 12%, accept Inspire (10.6%) Fruit of French Orange, Escorial, Savor and Artemis tend to crack at the blossom end. However, the worst effected variety was Savor (soft and thin skinned variety) Escorial and Artemis produced very sweet fruit, but had issues with fruit cracking Adjusting production practices might help to minimize fruit cracking in these two varieties Varieties with none to very little defects and production issues include Lilliput and Sugar Cubes. From initial results, Lilliput, Sugar Cubes, Escorial, and Artemis seem to have the most potential 30 15

16 Acknowledgements Co PI s Ariana Torres Amanda Deering WenjingGuan Dan Egel Purdue AgSEED grant Mary S. Rice grant Throckmorton PAC/Meigs staff Nate Linder Tristand Tucker Jay Young Summer Interns Maddie Turkupolis Pedro Martin 31 THANK YOU Questions? Contact details: Dr. Petrus Langenhoven Horticulture and Hydroponics Crop Specialist Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Purdue University Tel. no plangenh@purdue.edu 32 16