2003 Report

23rd Annual Meeting
Mobile, Alabama
February 2, 2003

Benny D. Bruton, Chairman
US Department of Agriculture
Agriculture Research Service
Lane, Oklahoma 74555
[Voice] 580-889-7395 [Fax] 580-889-5783
[E-mail] bbruton@lane-ag.org
[Web Page] http://www.lane-ag.org/H2oMelon/watermelon.htm

The Annual Meeting of the Watermelon Research & Development Working Group (WRDWG) was Sunday, February 2, 2002 in Mobile, Alabama. The meeting was held (8:00 AM - 5:00 PM) at the Convention Center in conjunction with The Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (S.A.A.S.) and the Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Sciences (SR: ASHS). Please let Dr. Paul Smeal (Secretary-Treasurer) know that we appreciate the support of SR:ASHS. We will had an excellent program this year. As per the request of the members, we met for a full day this year. Below is the program agenda.

Welcome: Benny Bruton, Chairman, E-mail: bbruton-usda@lane-ag.org

I. 8:00 AM WEB PAGE:

**Non-members are encouraged to fill out the forms at the WRDWG Web Site and submit them to the chairman for processing into our database Scientist and Area of Expertise. Seed Companies are encouraged to submit information!!

**All members and interested parties should submit information on: Hot Topics such as new diseases or new releases. Please update your E-mail address and especially phone numbers

II. SEED COMPANY RELEASES AND UPDATES:

• 8:15 AM *Seminis, Fred McCuistion
• 8:30 AM *Willhite Seed, Don Dobbs
• 8:45 AM *Syngenta Seeds, Tom Williams
• 9:00 AM *SunSeeds, Gary Elmstrom
• 9:15-9:45 AM *General Discussion on Impact of Brokers on Watermelon Industry

III. STATEWIDE WATERMELON TRIALS FOR 2001:

• 9:45 AM Warren Roberts, Oklahoma State University, Lane, Oklahoma. "Watermelon Cultivar Evaluations in Oklahoma"
• 10:00 AM Break
• 10:15 AM Don Maynard, University of Florida, Bradenton, FL, "Review of the Florida Statewide Watermelon Trials"
• 10:30 AM Cushman, K., Snyder, R., Coker, C., Horan, T., Hudson, P. "Mississippi Triploid Watermelon Cultivar Evaluation: Elongated Genotypes"
• 10:45 AM Frank Dainello, Texas A&M University, College Station, "Review of the Texas Statewide Watermelon trials"
• 11:00 AM George Boyhan. University of Georgia, Statesboro, Georgia. "Statewide Watermelon Trials for Georgia, 2001"

IV. WORLD WATERMELON PRODUCTION:

• 11:15-11:45 AM Merritt Taylor, Oklahoma State University, Lane Oklahoma, "Trends in World Watermelon Production - 1991 to 2001"

V. LUNCH BREAK:

• 11:45 Noon to 1:00 PM

VI. MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS:

• 1:00-1:30 PM Rey Santella, US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Horticultural and Tropical Products Division, Washington, DC., "How to Build Markets Overseas - An Overview of the Foreign Agricultural Service"
  Mark Arney, Incoming Executive Director, National Watermelon Promotion Board, Orlando, FL. "Mark could not be with us because of Scheduling Conflicts"

VII. RESEARCH REPORTS:

• 1:30 PM Leskovar, D.I., Bang, H., Bender, D., Crosby, K. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Dept. Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, Uvalde, TX 78801; "Environmental Variability of Lycopene and Quality"
• 1:45 PM Perkins-Veazie, P., Roberts, W., Collins, J., and Perez, K. U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Lane, OK; "Lycopene Variation Among Watermelons: Cultivars, Potassium, and Ripness"
• 2:00 PM Perkins-Veazie, P., Collins, J., Edwards, A. Clevidence, B., and Wiley, E. U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Lane, OK; "Humans and Watermelons: Lycopene Availability from the Human Clinical Trial"
• 2:15 PM Shrefler, J. Oklahoma State University, Lane Oklahoma; "Update on New Herbicide Uses in Watermelon"
• 2:30 PM Bruton, B.D. USDA-ARS, Lane, Oklahoma. "Squash Bug: Vector of Serratia marcescens, Causal Agent of Cucurbit Yellow Vine Disease"
• 2:45 PM "General Discussion on Impact of Powdery on Watermelon Industry-Future Outlook"
• 3:00 PM Afternoon Break
• 3:15 PM Group Discussion on Any Topic

IV. SEED SOURCE FOR FUSARIUM WILT DIFFERENTIALS

V. REFRESHMENTS:

• Seminis Seeds
• Please let Fred McQuistion know that we appreciate Seminis for providing the refreshments for the 2003 Annual Meeting. Thanks Fred and Seminis!

XI. PAST REFRESHMENT SPONSORSHIPS:

• Seminis Seeds:Mobile, Alabama - 2003
• National Watermelon Promotion Board: Kissimmee, Florida - 2002
• Sugar Creek Seed Inc.: Ft. Worth, Texas - 2001
• Willhite Seeds: Lexington, Kentucky - 2000
• Novartis Seeds Inc.: Memphis, Tennessee - 1999
• Sunseeds: Little Rock, Arkansas - 1998
• Barham Seeds: Birmingham, Alabama - 1997
• American SunMelon: Greensboro, North Carolina - 1996
• Willhite Seeds: New Orleans, Louisiana - 1995
• Asgrow Seed Company: Nashville, Tennessee - 1994
• American SunMelon:Tulsa, Oklahoma - 1993