Muskmelon Origin, Variety and Living Environment

Cantaloupe is a fruit that people like to eat. It was regarded as a "heavenly fruit" by the ancient Egyptians. Let us learn about this heavenly fruit.

Cantaloupe

It is also called sweet melon or musk melon. As the name suggests, musk melon is famous for its sweet fruit. Wang Zhen of the Yuan Dynasty praised musk melon in his book "Book of Agriculture": "Its flesh and pulp are sweeter than molasses." Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" also recorded: "The taste of musk melon is sweeter than other melons, so it is known as sweet."

Muskmelon is a summer fruit that can cool you down. Its nutritional value is comparable to that of watermelon. According to measurements, except for the lower water and protein content, the other nutrients of muskmelon are not less than those of watermelon, while the content of aromatic substances, minerals, sugars and vitamin C is significantly higher than that of watermelon. Eating more muskmelon is beneficial to the activities of the heart, liver and intestinal system, and promotes endocrine and hematopoietic functions. Traditional Chinese medicine confirms that muskmelon has the significant effect of "cooling down, relieving thirst and promoting urination".

There are many documents and physical objects to verify the historical facts of melon cultivation in China. According to these historical materials, the earliest cultivated melons were thin-skinned melons, and the cultivation history of thick-skinned melons was relatively late. The word "melon" was first seen in the "Book of Songs" from the 7th to 8th century BC. According to the "Book of Songs? Daya? Minsheng", as early as the Yao and Shun era, when Hou Ji (the agricultural official at that time) "taught the people to farm" in Taidi (now Wugong County, Shaanxi Province), there was a record of "hemp and wheat were covered, and melons were growing." The "Book of Songs" also said: "Eat melons in July and break pots in August", "There are huts in the fields and melons on the battlefield", "The melons are growing continuously, and the people are born." This shows that melons were already a necessity for people's livelihood at that time.

Ancient Egyptians regarded melons as the holy fruit of heaven and worshiped them. Ancient China also regarded melons as the fruit of heaven. According to mythology, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Mu of Heaven was on a tour with eight horses. When he passed Guazhou (now Anxi County, Gansu Province), he accidentally fell and the melon seeds fell from heaven to the ground. From then on, melons appeared in the world. Every time a melon is eaten, it must be offered to ancestors first. The "Book of Rites: Jade Algae" records that "melon is offered as a ring". Kong Yingda explained that "melon offering means eating melons to show respect to ancestors."

Origin

Muskmelon is native to the tropical desert areas of Africa. It was introduced to China along with watermelons during the Northern Wei Dynasty and began to be widely planted in the Ming Dynasty. Today, Shaanxi, Henan, Liaoning, Anhui, Shandong, Sichuan, Hunan, Fujian and other places were once the main producing areas of thin-skinned melons.

Growth environment

Muskmelon is a thermophilic crop. The suitable temperature for plant growth and development is 22-32℃, and the most suitable growth temperature is 25-28℃. Muskmelon is a light-loving crop, requiring 10-12 hours of sunlight per day. When there is sufficient sunlight, the plant grows robustly, with short internodes, dark leaves, thick stems and fat leaves, few diseases and good quality. On cloudy days and when there is insufficient sunlight, the stems and vines are slender, the leaves are thin and light, and they are prone to leggy growth and disease, with less sugar accumulation and poor fruit quality.

Muskmelon is drought-resistant and has a higher leaf osmotic pressure. It needs more water during the germination, seedling, vine extension and fruit expansion stages, while the water content needs to be controlled during the ripening stage. When there is too much water and high humidity, the sugar content of the fruit is difficult to increase, which seriously affects the quality.

variety

The main cultivated varieties of cantaloupe in my country are: Longqing No. 1, Longqing No. 2, Ful No. 1, Ful No. 2, Prince Charming, Qingtian Melon, Yongtian No. 3, Zetian No. 1, Zetian No. 2, etc.