ABSTRACT
Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is an important horticultural crop across wide areas of the world. Within the genus Cucumis, it belongs to the subgenus melo. The fruits are used as a dessert that contains 0.6% protein, 0.2% fat, 3.5% carbohydrates, 32 mg calcium, 14 mg phosphorus, 1.4 mg iron, 16 mg carotene, and 26 mg vitamin C per 100 g fresh weight of fruit (Aykroyd, 1963). Seed kernels are also edible, tasty, and nutritious and are rich in oils and energy. Great morphological variation exits in the fruit characteristics such as size, shape, color and texture, taste, and composition; C. melo is, therefore, considered the most diverse species of the genus Cucumis (Bates and Robinson, 1995). The species comprises feral, wild, and cultivated varieties, the latter including sweet “dessert” melons, as well as nonsweet forms that are consumed raw, pickled, or cooked.
