Distinguishing melon genotypes using NIR spectroscopy

Abstract The cultivation and breeding of melon has a great importance in Hungary. In our present study, we examined different melon genotypes using NIR spectroscopy from two aspects. The first application was the examination of hybridity, the second the characterization of several representative varieties with NIR spectroscopy. A hybrid cultivar with its two parent lines, and furthermore bulk-seed samples of four muskmelon varieties and five watermelon varieties were investigated. As a qualitative evaluation method, Polar Qualification System (PQS) was used performed by Metrika's PQS32 software package. At the hybrid lines, the value of sensitivity expressing the effectiveness of the classification was 12.32. At classification of the muskmelon varieties, the sensitivity was between 1.35 and 3.37 among the different varieties. At watermelon samples, a bit lower values were received for sensitivity, which is interpreted in the paper. The results achieved by PQS were compared to the results achieved by using classical evaluation methods (principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), PCA+LDA). Summarized, it was possible to distinguish the varieties of the investigated musk- and watermelon bulk samples, so the method could be applied for cultivar identification and protection.