Extraseasonal Production in a Soilless System and Characterisation of Landraces of Carosello and Barattiere ( Cucumis melo L.)

Annalisa Somma, Onofrio Davide Palmitessa, Beniamino Leoni, Angelo Signore, Massimiliano Renna and Pietro Santamaria
Additional contact information
Annalisa Somma: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy
Onofrio Davide Palmitessa: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy
Beniamino Leoni: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy
Angelo Signore: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy
Massimiliano Renna: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy
Pietro Santamaria: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: Barattiere and Carosello are typical melon ( Cucumis melo L.) landraces of Puglia’s (Southern Italy) biodiversity. Their unripe fruits are locally consumed as an alternative to cucumbers ( C. sativus L.) and are appreciated for their qualitative profile. Nevertheless, they are underutilized crops. For the high variability and confusing denominations, a morphological characterization is essential to discriminate and valorise landraces; additionally, it is fundamental to implement the agronomic technique to allow the cultivation outside the natural growth period (summer) by soilless cultivation. Two genotypes of Barattiere (‘Allungato’ and ‘Tondo’), two of Carosello (‘Scopatizzo’ and ‘Tomentoso’ (CAT)) and two of cucumber (‘Baby Star’ and ‘Modan’ hybrids) were vertically grown in the winter–spring period in a rockwool soilless system in a glasshouse with supplemental light. Landraces were characterized by morpho-physiological descriptors of melon; fruit biometrics and colour were analysed for all genotypes; productive parameters, leaf fluorescence, and chlorophyll content were measured. Genotypes varied in seeds, stem, leaf, fruit traits and they were andromonoecious; Carosello flowered earlier and produced more than Barattiere; CAT fruits were hairy and elongate, while other genotypes tended to rounder and glabrous fruits. Although landraces grew slower than cucumbers, both produced marketable fruits and the production of Carosello was comparable to cucumbers. In conclusion, Barattiere and Carosello have a productive potential and one vertically trained stem in a soilless system is appropriate for their extra-seasonal production.

Keywords: agrobiodiversity; morphological descriptors; unripe melons; C. sativus L. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11425/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11425/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11425-:d:657620

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().