The results of 1388 foreign sources of watermelon and muskmelon from Unel

On June 9, in Hanting District National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park, the “International Cooperation Seminar on Uneir Biological Breeding Technology Exchange and Germplasm Resources Utilization&Uneir Biological Breeding 2023 Spring Ten Thousand Melon Product Testing Meeting” was opened. 1388 foreign watermelon seed sources have bloomed and fruited, with over 700 new varieties of watermelon, totaling more than 10000 watermelon fruit products appearing together.

Hanting District has a history of nearly 40 years of large-scale watermelon planting. The watermelon is thin, refreshing, sweet and fresh. In 2017, “Hanting Watermelon” was recognized as a national geographical indication product and added to the trademark protection list. The total watermelon production in the region reaches 156000 tons, with an output value of approximately 1.06 billion yuan.

Unel Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a modern seed industry company that integrates scientific research, seedling breeding, production, and sales. Since settling in Weifang National Agricultural Comprehensive Zone in 2019, we have built our own “watermelon germplasm resource entity database” and “germplasm resource information database” by combining the agricultural planting characteristics represented by “Hanting Watermelon”. As of now, the “Yonell Germplasm Resource Physical Library” has collected and stored a total of 1926 high-quality watermelon germplasm resources, of which 1388 come from different geographical regions.

In the hot summer, 1388 foreign watermelon provenances bloomed and fruited in the National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park in Hanting District. These melons come from Europe, America, Africa and other parts of the world, covering 7 representative species and multiple subspecies of the Citrullus genus, including a large number of rare and precious wild species, semi domesticated species and wild relatives. The world’s most complete watermelon germplasm resources have been successfully activated here.

Seeds are the “chips” of agriculture, and with the enormous advantages of germplasm resources, Uniel is also making breakthroughs in innovative breeding techniques. By leveraging 1388 rare watermelon seed sources, a massive phenotypic database has been constructed, which will help collect and organize genotype data, genome information, agronomic traits, pedigree relationships, combining ability, environmental information, agronomic management information, and years of multi-point experimental data. This will truly transform from an experiential breeding model to a precision breeding model and become a valuable new energy source for watermelon breeding, Boost the watermelon breeding industry to a new level.