The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect
of a number of physical and chemical attributes upon muskmelon
texture as described by sensory evaluation. Measurements of turgor
pressure, percent moisture, total sugars, alcohol-insoluble-solids,
three pectic fractions, total pectic materials, starch and cellulose
were performed on 50 melons. The melons were purchased at random
from a retail market in Corvallis, Oregon, over a five-week
period during July and August, 1966. Subjective evaluation of textural
quality was provided by a five-membered panel employing a
pre-tested ballot. On five-point scales, judges rated resistance to
cutting, resistance to biting, resistance to crushing, crispness,
fibrousness and sweetness. Simple and multiple correlation analyses
were performed to elucidate relationships between the objective and
subjective observations.
Considerable variation was found among melons for most of
the attributes. Variation was largest in the case of water-soluble
pectic substances and cellulose and least for alcohol-insoluble-solids.
According to the results of this study, melon texture is determined
to a great extent by the type and amount of cell wall constituents.
Significant multiple correlations were found between cell wall
constituents, cellulose and protopectin, and sensory panel scores
for resistance to cutting, resistance to biting, resistance to crushing
and crispness. Fruit maturity, as inferred from starch and
protopectin content, also exerted an effect upon texture. Significant
multiple correlations were found between starch and protopectin and
panel scores for resistance to cutting, resistance to crushing and
crispness.
Although not specifically related to texture, a significant and
positive simple correlation was found between total sugars and
sweetness. Similarly, significant negative correlations were found
between starch and total sugars and starch and sweetness.
Turgor pressure, percent moisture, alcohol-insoluble-solids,
total sugar, water-soluble pectic substances, pectates-pectinates and
total pectic materials were found not to be reliable indicators of
muskmelon texture. Although turgor pressure did not exhibit a
significant relationship to any textural aspects, a trend was observed in the data. As a result of this observation and difficulty encountered
in measuring turgor pressure, further work with this variable is
recommended.
Proximate composition of the melons analyzed compared
favorably with published data. This observation lends confidence to
the methods and analyses employed. Large standard deviations calculated
for some of the attributes measured emphasize the extent
of variation among melons, the difficulty in assessing texture in an
objective manner and the problem encountered in marketing and
purchasing the fresh fruit. / Graduation date: 1968
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/26806 |
| Date | 29 June 1967 |
| Creators | Dinus, Linda Ann |
| Contributors | Mackey, Andrea C. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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