Grafting techniques are being used to improve economically important horticultural crops including Cucumis melo L. This 2-year study was carried out at Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of grafting using different rootstocks on plant, fruit and seed quality in cantaloupe melons. The double haploid (DH) female (H27) and male (H4) parental lines of Solmaz F₁ (Cucumis melo L. var. cantalupensis) variety developed by Cukurova University Faculty of Agriculture were used as scion and three commercial interspecific hybrid Cucurbita (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne × Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) varieties, Nun-9075 F₁ (Nunhems), Ares F₁ (ITU) and TZ-148 (Clause) were used as rootstocks. The parental lines were also self grafted and ungrafted parents were used as the control group. The grafted and ungrafted parents were crossed during pollination. Graft combinations and control were compared for performances in measured parameters such as the main stem length (cm), main stem diameter (mm), node number, harvest time (day), fruit weight (g), fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), fruit cavity length (cm), fruit cavity diameter (cm), fruit flesh thickness (cm), fruit rind thickness (mm), total soluble solids (TSS, %), fruit flesh productivity (%), number of full and empty seeds (number/fruit), 1000 seeds weight (g), seed germination rate (%) and time (day), seed emergence rate (%), and time (day). Most of the plant, fruit and seed parameters have been positively affected by grafting. The use of commercial interspesific Cucurbita hybrid rootstocks resulted in high values compared to the control group however, harvest time, fruit cavity length and diameter, fruit rind thickness and fuit flesh productivity parameters were not statistically significant between rootstocks. Considering seed emergence and germination rate Cucurbita hybrid rootstocks performed lower values than self grafted and ungrafted control. The current study concludes that grafting plays a crucial role in plant growth, fruit and seed characters in cantaloupe melons. Statistically significant differences were mostly observed based on evaluated parameters.

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L. Thunb. Matsum. and Nakai) is a vegetable species with high water content that is rich in lycopene and refreshing; therefore, breeding studies are carried out intensively to develop new varieties. The breeding period in these plants can be shortened with the use of the haploidization technique, and determining the ploidy levels of plants in haploidization studies is very important. In this study, it was examined whether morphological and cytological analyses would be sufficient for ploidy determination of haploid plants obtained by ovary culture in watermelon. With this aim, the stomatal, morphological and cytological characteristics were determined, taken from 15 haploid and 19 double haploid plants. The ploidy level of the plants was detected by flow cytometry before these analyses. In this study, “Principal Component Analysis” was performed based on average values to analyze the structure of the relationship between the parameters examined. It is thought that stomatal features can be used as morphological markers in determining the ploidy levels of plants. The differences obtained from the study results may help to develop effective strategies in determining the ploidy levels of plants.

In the study, two commercial Cucurbita maxima×Cucurbita moschata hybrid (Nun9075 and TZ148), Lagenaria spp. hybrid (Argentario) and one local Lagenaria spp. genotype (3335) and one Citrullus amarus genotype (PI 296341) were used as rootstocks. The male and female parents of two watermelon hybrids (187×125 and 11×162) were used as scions. Ungrafted plants formed the control group and also each parent was grafted on itself. Male parents were used for pollen measurements. Fruit weight, fruit height, fruit diameter, fruit rind thickness, total soluble solid content, total number of seeds, total seed weight and 1000 seeds’ weight and seed vigor tests were carried out in fruits of female parents crossed with male parents grafted onto the same rootstock. According to results of this study, the highest pollen production was obtained from Argentario while in terms of pollen germination and pollen viability there was no difference between applications in general. It was determined that grafting on Argentario and 3335 rootstocks increased fruit height, fruit diameter, fruit rind thickness, and the amount of total soluble solid, and the best performing rootstocks in terms of fruit weight were found to be Argentario, 3335, TZ148 and NUN9075. The highest seed number, seed weight and 1000 seeds weight were obtained from those grafted on TZ148 and NUN9075 rootstocks. Although variable results were obtained in terms of early germination, there was no rootstock that came to the fore in general. There was no difference between the rootstocks regarding accelerated aging test and controlled deterioration test.

In this study, rootstock effects of bottle gourds on nutrient uptake and nitrogen use efficiency of watermelon were investigated. Watermelon seedlings were grafted onto Birecik, Skopje, Emphasis, 216 and FRGold. Non-grafted plants were used as control. The seedlings were transplanted and kept under plastic tunnel until climatic conditions were suitable for watermelon cultivation. Experimental area was amended with doses of 18 kg N da-1, 20 kg P2O5 da-1 and 18 kg K2O da-1based on soil analysis. No micro-nutrient fertilizer was applied. While total P and 1/3 of N and K were applied as base fertilizer before transplanting, the second and third portions of the N and K were applied 20 and 40 days after transplanting, respectively. The experiment planned as a completely randomized block design and repeated four times, each replication has 15 plants. The seedlings were transplanted with 200 x 50 cm spacing. Macro and micro-nutrient contents were analyzed in fully grown seventh and eighth leaves from soot tips. While N, P, K and Ca contents of the leaves did not show significant differences between graft combinations and control plants, Mg concentration was significantly affected by rootstocks. All graft combinations had higher Fe concentration in the leaf than non-grafted plants. Cu and Zn concentrations showed significant variation based on rootstock. Higher nitrogen use efficiency (ton yield kg N-1) was recorded in all graft combinations as compared to controls. Bottle gourd rootstocks used in this study enhanced the nutrient uptake, plant growth and total fruit yield.