Phenotypic evaluation and genotyping of SlERF1 related to sugar content in F5 families of (Cucumis melo L.)

High sugar content in melon is one of the most important goals in breeding programs. To develop hybrid cultivars with favorable traits and high sugar content, the two wide cultivating cultivars of “Samsoori” and “Saveh” were crossed with a commercial hybrid of “Galia” and F5 families were produced with pedigree selection method. In this study 32 F5 families along with the parental genotypes were evaluated in a randomized complete block design in farm and yield, number of fruits per plant, days to harvest, fruit related traits and sugar content were measured. The results showed that except the number of fruits per plant, for other traits there were highly significant difference among families. SNP marker related to sugar content candidate gene (SlERF1) was genotyped in 41 random selected plants from F5 generation. The sequence of the reported SNP which associated with sugar content was verified by sequencing and showed polymorphism between parental genotypes. Sequencing data revealed that two genotypes of A1A1 and A2A2 among plants tested in F5 generation with no heterozygote genotype. The sugar content of A1A1 (12.7ºB) genotypes were highly significant from that of A2A2 (10.3ºB) genotypes. Therefore the efficiency of this SNP in SlERF1 candidate gene for selection of favorable lines was validated. This molecular marker can accelerate the breeding of sugar content in breeding programs in future. Also, the 15 plants with A1A1 genotypes can be crossed with each other to produce hybrid cultivars.