Eyal A. Vardi, Hamutal Pompan, Ian Beiersdorf, Lior De Leon, Hodaya Simon, Uria Ramon, OriGene Seeds Ltd.

Cultivation of Cucurbitaceae has expanded globally following increases in demand. This expansion has caused difficulties for the growers due to suboptimal biotic and abiotic conditions. Watermelon is increasingly exposed to and affected by soil borne diseases (such as fusarium wilt) and drought. Watermelon grafting is one of the environmentally friendly methods to overcome those challenges without using chemicals. The most common method among watermelon growers is grafting a watermelon scion onto a pumpkin rootstock. This combination can increase weight, yield, and prevent soil borne disease but sometimes can cause undesirable traits for the watermelon fruits and late ripening. Watermelon rootstocks provide a possible solution for grating watermelon. Our major goal is to find combinations of watermelon scions and rootstocks that improves fruit quality. Our results, which based on the last decade data, suggest that watermelon rootstocks are a suitable alternative to pumpkin rootstocks and display a similar yield and quality parameters and without the incompatibility and late ripening effects.

New watermelon rootstocks including WRS2, WRS9, WRS20 and ‘Woodstock’ released and will be trialed in semi commercial stages this year. We wish all of our clients and growers good luck!