Physical Properties and Compositional Changes of two Cultivars of Cantaloupe Fruit During Various Maturity Stages

Some physical properties and chemical compositions of two cultivars(Semsouri and Shahabadi) of cantaloupe studied during four different stages of maturityfrom fruit set to completely ripe. The physical properties investigated were the geometricmean diameter (GMD), specific gravity (SG), mean firmness (MF), rind, seed (%) andflesh (%). The chemical compositions were Brix, Titrable Acidity (TA), moisture content,pH, and ash. The results showed that the GMD, flesh (%), Brix, and pH values of bothcultivars increased in the full-ripe stage of maturity whereas there was concurrentdecrease in SG, rind (%), seed (%), moisture content, TA, and ash values obtained in thesame period. There were also significant differences (using GLM-multivariate analysis)in all measured variables apart from ash, seed (%), rind (%), and flesh (%) between thetwo cultivars. Overall, the linear relationships were obtained between sugar content andGMD, SG, and MF respectively, correlation coefficients being higher than 0.87.