Salinity of soil in arid and semiarid regions is a problem that affects the production and quality of fruit. That’s while we evaluated grafting on watermelon plants as an alternative to reduce the salinity effects. The experimental design was of randomized blocks, three treatments (cultivars Sangria, Summer Flavor 800 and Summer Flavor 840) with three repetitions. The cultivars were evaluated in grafted and ungrafted condition. The rootstock used for grafting was the interspecific hybrid Strong Tosa (C. maxima x C. moschata). In average terms for the three cultivars, grafting increased commercial production, weight, length and diameter of fruits in 160.5%, 36.5%, 12.0% and 7.5%, respectively. Sangria presented the best answer in production with 57.1 t ha-1, weight 5.8 kg, length 35.0 cm and diameter 17.8 cm of fruits. Also, grafting favored in 6.3% the luminosity and reduced 6.4% Hue angle. Summer Flavor 840 showed the best result in luminosity with 48.3 and hue angle 26.4°. Firmness, °Brix and lycopene content were not modified by grafting. Grafting represents an alternative for watermelon production in saline soils, improving yield and quality of the fruits.

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The use of Lagenaria siceraria rootstocks in watermelon production has favored fruit yield and quality under conditions of environmental stress. However, it is necessary to know if the differential characteristics of fruit and seed L. siceraria are related to watermelon yield and fruit in grafted plant. The objective was to evaluate two dissimilar groups of Mexican L. siceraria as rootstock in Tri-X 33 watermelon variety to relationship the morphological characteristics of rootstock with productive variables and fruit quality. The treatments were Tri-X 313 variety ungrafted and grafted with accessions of group 1 (L46 and L56) and group 2 (L48, L50 and L54). Variables evaluated were fruit and yield and quality parameters. No differences were found between groups of L. siceraria in fruit yield and external quality parameters. With the exception of pulp firmness and luminosity, LG1 surpassed group LG2 by 30.7 and 5.0%, respectively. While, when comparing grafted and ungrafted plants, it was found that grafted plants were superior, with increases of 277.8% in number of fruits per m2, 330.2% in commercial production, 54.6% in rind thickness, 85.2% in external firmness and 36.3% in chroma value of fruit pulp. Meanwhile, pulp percentage and hue were reduced by 13.8% and 15.5%, respectively, in grafted watermelons. Thus, the seed and fruit characteristics are not sufficient criteria to select L. siceraria rootstocks for watermelon production.

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El cultivo de chile habanero [Capsicum chinense Jacq.], es una hortaliza conocida por su gran pungencia, aroma y color. En el Valle de Mexicali, se han comenzado a implementar pequeñas superficies de este cultivo, específicamente bajo malla sombra. Al respecto, es necesario conocer el desarrollo del rendimiento de materiales que se adecuen a las condiciones específicas del clima de esta región. El objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar siete genotipos de chile habanero cultivado bajo malla sombra en el valle de Mexicali. Los materiales evaluados incluyeron hábitos de crecimiento indeterminado y determinado, con color de fruta naranja y roja. Los materiales fueron distribuidos en bloques completos al azar y cuatro repeticiones. Las variables evaluadas fueron número y peso de la fruta así como rendimiento.