Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 14.4
World Cucurbit Production, 2001.
Cucurbit
Area harvested (1000 ha)
Yield (kg.ha
-1
)
Production (1000 t)
Cucumber, gherkin
1 796
17 352
31 158
Melon
1 142
17 222
19 665
Pumpkin, squash, gourd
1 244
12 526
15 581
Watermelon
2 929
21 729
63 637
Source: FAO (2002).
Table 14.5
Principal Cucurbit Producing Countries, 2001.
Rank
Cucurbit
1
2
3
4
5
Cucumber, gherkin
China
Turkey
Iran
United States
Japan
Melon
China
Turkey
United States
Spain
Iran
Pumpkin, squash, gourd
China
India
Ukraine
Egypt
Mexico
Watermelon
China
Turkey
Iran
United States
Egypt
vegetable in New England in the United States as it
provided nutrition and variety to the diet during the long
winter when fresh vegetables were scarce. In Sri Lanka and
the Ukraine, production of gherkins or small pickling
cucumbers for export to Europe provides needed foreign
exchange in these developing countries where labour for
harvest is readily available. Even though cucurbits are less
important economically than tomato or potato, for exam-
ple, they may make vast contributions to the local economy
and to the well-being of the population in terms of mone-
tary returns or nutrition.
Red-fleshed watermelon fruit contained 6300 to
6800
g/100 g lycopene whereas orange-fleshed and
yellow-fleshed fruit contained 370 to 420
μ
μ
g/100 g and 10
to 80
g/100 g fresh weight, respectively (Perkins-Veazie
et al
. 2002a). Within the red-fleshed types, fruit of diploid
hybrids (seeded) cultivars generally had higher lycopene
concentrations than fruit of diploid open-pollinated (seeded)
cultivars. One exception was 'Dixielee' that was developed
specifically for intense red flesh. Triploid (seedless) culti-
var fruit had lycopene concentrations equal to or higher
than those in fruit of diploid hybrid (seeded) cultivars. Fruit
at peak ripeness had higher lycopene concentrations that
unripe (
μ
Nutritional composition
A casual examination of the cucurbit compositional data
in Table 14.6 shows that water is the principal fruit
constituent, with dried seeds being the only exception.
Otherwise, fruit water content varies from 86% to 96%.
The fruits are also low in energy, protein, fat and
carbohydrates making them an excellent choice for
weight-conscious individuals. Orange-fleshed winter
squashes provide an excellent source of vitamin A. Melons
and some squashes provide useful sources of vitamin C.
Two compact tropical pumpkin hybrids (
Cucurbita mos-
chata
) were recently released and reported to contain 49
and 57 mg/kg fresh mass (FM) total carotenoids in the
pulp, higher than that reported for butternut squash (45 mg/
kg FM) (Maynard
et al
. 2002).
7 days) fruit. Minimally pro-
cessed watermelon fruit lost about 10% of its lycopene after
7 or 10 days at 2
−
7 days) or overripe (
+
C (Perkins-Veazie
et al
. 2002b).
Lycopene makes an enormous contribution to human
health. Until recently, it was thought to be important only
as it contributed to flesh colour. Watermelon flesh has an
average of 4100
°
μ
g/100 g (range 2300-7200) lycopene com-
pared to 3100
μ
g/100 g (range 879-4900) in raw tomato,
3362
g/100 g (range
5340-5500) in raw guava. Processed tomato products have
two or three times greater lycopene concentrations than
raw tomatoes because of water depletion in those products.
Lycopene is one of the major carotenoids in Western diets
and accounts for about 50% of the carotenoids in human
serum. Among the common dietary carotenoids, lycopene
μ
g/100 g in pink grapefruit, and 5400
μ
