Breeding of Tendril-less Type Melon Cultivar ‘TL Takami’ and its Characteristics

Abstract

In growing melons, tendrils at each node generally result in decreased labor efficiency for training vines. A new cultivar ‘TL Takami’ with a tendril-less phenotype has been bred using the tendril-less type ‘Chiba TL’ and ‘Takami’ as the parents. The cultivar ‘TL Takami’ has no tendril, but has either a lateral shoot or a leaf at the nodes. Other characteristics are the same as those of ‘Takami’ and the fruits were able to be sold as ‘Takami’ fruits on the market. This newly developed cultivar has a great advantage in a 20~40% labor-saving during vine management compared with previous cultivars, especially when crop management is delayed.