Evaluation of Morphological Traits and Genetic Composition in Melon Germplasm

Melon (Cucumis melo L.), one of the most important fruit crop species, is cultivated worldwide. In this study, a total of 206 melon accessions conserved at the National Agrobiodiversity Center (NAC) in RDA were characterized for nine morphological characteristics according to the NAC descriptor list. In addition, to confirm the genetic composition of each melon accession, genetic profiling was performed using 20 SSR markers. Among the 206 melon accessions, 159 (77.2%) were collected from Asia. The color of fruit flesh and skin were mostly ‘white’ (56.0%) and ‘green’ (49%), respectively. Days to female flowering (FD) and maturity (MD) of the accessions ranged from 58 to 72 and 17 to 63, respectively. The fruit length and width of the accessions ranged from 6.0 to 29.3 and 3.6 to 17.2 cm, respectively. The sugar content (SU) ranged from 2.5% to 13.2% with an average of 7.0%. In correlation analysis, SU showed positive and negative correlations with MD and FD, respectively. The accessions were classified into four clusters by cluster analysis. From the results of genetic profiling using 20 SSR markers, three accessions (K189118, K100486, and K190292) were expected to be inbred lines among 206 melon accessions. These results could expand the knowledge of the melon germplasm, providing valuable material for the development of new melon varieties to suit consumer tastes.