REGENERATION OF TETRAPLOID MUSKMELONS FROM COTYLEDONS AND THEIR MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES FROM 2 DIPLOID MUSKMELON GENOTYPES

'Gulfstream' and 'Charentais' muskmelons (Cucumis melo L.) plants were regenerated by in vitro culture to increase their genetic variability for resistance to root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.). While no genetic variability for root knot resistance was found, regenerated plants exhibited other traits that varied from the donor cotyledons. Chromosome counts confirmed that >75% of the somaclonal variants were tetraploid (2n = 24; 4n = 48). Tetraploids consistently exhibited micro- and macroscopic morphological changes that enabled distinction between tetraploids and diploids without chromosome counts; tetraploids contained enlarged stomates with more chloroplasts in the guard cells and pollen with a high percentage of square-appearing shapes. Tetraploids exhibited distinctive macroscopic morphological changes, including differences in leaf structure, fruit shape, blossom-end scar, number of vein tracts, and seed size.