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Pages 165-182

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From page 165...
... Wild watermelons are useful in their own right, and always have been, their rinds, flesh, and moisture sustaining many inhabitants through waterless times. "The most surprising plant of the South African desert," wrote David 1 It is abundantly grown, for instance, in parts of Java, providing farmers a substantial income.
From page 166...
... "This is a salutary lesson in the hidden potential of so many superficially unpromising wild fruits," one of our insightful contributors wrote; "selection and domestication can improve them out of all recognition in a few [plant] generations." Although their domesticated descendants have been cultivated for over 4,000 years and were old news to the ancient Egyptians, the progenitors that gave them life basically remain strangers to commerce and horticulture.
From page 167...
... Watermelon seeds appeal to more than just local taste preferences, and eating watermelon seeds is not restricted to Africa. West Africa already exports them to France for snack food, to be eaten out-of-hand.
From page 168...
... Food Security Such watermelons can be a foundation of the food system. It has been said, for example, that in olden times people couldn't cross the Kalahari Desert except during a good melon season.
From page 169...
... their large refrigerator, some can barely lift the very large fruits, and it takes a big gathering to get one down at a single sitting. Small "icebox" melons– the smaller ones often called "palm" melons because they can fit in the palm of the hand–are becoming increasingly popular in the United States, and even smaller ones are available in Asia -- in China, Taiwan, and Japan, for instance.
From page 170...
... Seedless Fruits Scattered as they are throughout the flesh, watermelon seeds are generally considered nuisances. They cannot (as in melons)
From page 171...
... WATERMELON 171 PROSPECTS Within Africa itself, as well as for other parts of the world, the watermelon's unprepossessing ancestors have more potential than might be imagined. Considering the genetic wealth to be found in wild African types, even the places that supposedly know the crop best would have to concede they have hardly tapped its many potentials.
From page 172...
... The edible parts are notably the crisp flesh of the fruits, but also the rinds, seed kernels, tender young leaves, and flowers. Fresh Fruits Watermelons are of course mostly eaten fresh as snacks or desserts.
From page 173...
... . Animal Feed Wild watermelons are often the only source of moisture for animals, both wild and domestic.
From page 174...
... Pests of the growing plants include melon fly (Daucus spp.) -- the most serious pest in Africa, but some wild strains apparently remain unaffected.
From page 175...
... These details all of course relate to watermelon cultivated for its sweet flesh. No figures are available on the yields or handling of the wild plants, but in Botswana it has been noted that they produce around 8 fruits per plant.
From page 176...
... for them to reach their full market potential as "single-use" fruits. Africa's wild watermelons can be as small as 2 cm in diameter, and likely contain "downsizing" genes that innovative horticulturists could employ to create handy fruits of less than 1 kg.
From page 177...
... Genetic improvement Genetic improvement might include such things as the following: • Plants with vigor, earliness, high yield, exceptional sugar content, and resistance to disease (Fusarium wilt or anthracnose, for instance) ; • Fruits whose rinds are thin and yet strong enough to withstand damage during handling and storage; • Fruits whose flesh is crisp, sweet, and free from stringiness; • Fruits with few or no seeds; and • Plants producing high yields of seed and seed oil.
From page 178...
... Wild watermelons look like conventional watermelons in size and shape,
From page 179...
... High Temperature Wild melons of southern African deserts grow where the temperature is often 36°C. While temperatures over 30°C during blooming may reduce fertilization in many types, most plants tolerate higher temperatures for short periods.
From page 180...
... In Namibia, the word tsama (or tsamma) is used not only for the wild watermelon, but also for Citrullus ecirrhosus Cogn., or "bitter apple." This desert perennial lives where rainfall is almost nonexistent, and it has a tremendous capacity to survive drought.


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