The determination of the morphological and phenological characteristics of Bağrıbütün melon (Cucumis melo L.)

Turkey being the second largest producer of melon serve as secondary gene center. According to different studies conducted it is stated that Turkey is very rich in local melon populations. These rich local melon populations include "Bağrıbütün" melon grown commonly in Aydıncık district of Yozgat province. The morphological and phenological characteristics of the Bağrıbütün melon collected from the Aydıncık district of Yozgat province were carried out in the Research and Application field at Akdeniz University Faculty of Agriculture within the scope of Master thesis. In this study, Dingiltepe, Çataltepe, Kalealtı, Deveci, Otağçe, Ağtepe, Kermelik genotypes grown in Aydıncık district of Yozgat province alongwith Çıtırex F1 (Galia type) and Deniz F1 (pineapple type) varieties were used as plant material. For determination of morphological and phenological characteristics of Bağrıbütün melon genotypes 80 parameters were investigated in which 12 in seedling, 5 in stem, 8 in leaf, 10 in flower, 37 in fruit and 8 of them were studied in the seed. The genotypes were grown according to randomized complete block design with 4 replications and each replication include 8 plants planted at 140x100 cm spacing. In this master study, the data obtained were analyzed according to SAS (version 9.0) statistical program. Bağrıbütün melon genotypes were compared with commercial genotypes for finding out the morphological and phenological characteristics. Moreover, morphological and phenological relationship between the genotypes of Bağrıbütün melon were revealed. Morphological and phenological data obtained will be helpful in determining melon characteristics and can act as important gene source in future breeding programs. According to the results obtained from Bağrıbütün melon genotypes, leaf shape; whole, flower type; andoromonoic, fruit surface; flat, fruit apex shape; flat, fruit weight (g); 1210-2878 g, fruit size (cm); 12.98-14.73 cm, fruit diameter (cm); 13.53-16.73 cm, fruit flesh structure; fibrous-gelatin, fruit aroma; fragrant, TSS (%); 12.50-14.40%, pH (%);4.85-6.78% TEA (%); %0.12-0.14, yield per plant (g); 877.69-2230.46 g yield (g/m2); 794.78-1991.50 g, fruit flesh color; orange, slicing; having slice, slice color; green, 100 seed weight (g);1.02-1.27 g values were determined in the range. The positive results were obtained for Bağrıbütün genotypes with orange pulp, fragrant fruit aroma, higher total soluble solids, core house was found to be useful for future breeding programs. It is thought that these results will ease the germplasm management, and reduce operational cost of gene bank, breeding studies and will act as a reference for determination of genotypes. KEYWORDS: Bağrıbutun, Melon, Morphological and Phenological Characterization