Assessment of Triploid Watermelon Cultivars Grown in Georgia for Yield and Quality Parameters

Watermelon is the most important vegetable crop grown during the spring season; therefore, it is imperative that we screen and identify top-performing cultivars for growers. Research experiments were conducted at the University of Georgia, Tifton Vegetable Park Research Farm, during Spring 2022 and Spring 2023. The study compared commercially available large seedless watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) cultivars to assess their performance to determine marketable and unmarketable yields, average fruit weight, fruit size distribution, quality parameters, and hollow heart. The six top-yielding cultivars were Excursion, ACX 6177, Miramonte, El Capitan, Sierra Nevada, and Jetski. These high-performing cultivars had total yields that averaged more than 60,000 lb/acre. Of these cultivars, Excursion, Sierra Nevada, and El Capitan had a high percentage of 30/36 count watermelons, whereas cultivars ACX 6177, Miramonte, and Jetski had a large percentage of 45/60 count watermelons. ‘Powerhouse’ and ‘Captivation’ performed the worst, with lower average fruit weights and total yields. In terms of fruit quality, ‘Jetski’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Captivation’, ‘Sierra Nevada’, ‘Embasy’, and ‘Powerhouse’ had the highest soluble solid content among all the cultivars. However, all cultivars had an average soluble solid content of more than 10%, which represented “very good internal quality” according to the US Department of Agriculture standards. ‘Warrior’ and ‘Captivation’ had significantly higher hollow hearts in the fruits compared to those of all other cultivars. In summary, ‘Excursion’, ‘El Capitan’, ‘Miramonte’, ‘Sierra Nevada’, ‘ACX 6177’, and ‘Jetski’ are recommended for commercial cultivation in southern Georgia based on their high yield, sweetness, and low hollow heart incidence, with options available for growers based on desired fruit size distribution, rind color, and fruit shape, whereas ‘Warrior’, ‘Powerhouse’ and ‘Captivation’ performed poorly in terms of yield and/or hollow heart vulnerability.