Evaluation of different muskmelon (Cucumis melo) cultivars and production systems in Oman

Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) has great potential to become an important horticultural crop for export from Oman. In this study, 32 muskmelon cultivars (cvs.) were compared with one Omani cultivar for different quality attributes like total soluble solids (TSS), fruit length and weight etc. in spring 2005 to fetch marketable access in Japanese market, where muskmelon regarded as a high-class and sacred fruit. Only eight cultivars produced fruits with TSS in the range of 10-15%. To meet the quality standards set by the Japanese Government for muskmelon imports, cv. Sunrise was further scrutinized for planting in spring and fall season, 2006 by employing conventional Omani cultivation method as control and Japanese methods viz. pinching and disbudding. The TSS did not exceed 13% in all treatments applied in spring and fall seasons. However, muskmelon grown by Japanese methods had less fruit TSS percentage, while significant variation was observed in fruit length, weight and circle ratio than control in spring, while in fall season except TSS, fruit weight, length and width were reduced significantly in all treatments than spring season. No significant difference was observed in circle ratio of fruits when melons were grown by Japanese method in both seasons. Overall studies revealed that Japanese high quality of melon is not primarily due to cultivar characteristic but due to some other factors.