Imida has showcased more than 60 traditional varieties of melon preserved in its Germplasm Bank. Murcian Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Development made it possible.
The Institute held an exhibition of traditional melon varieties at its facilities in La Alberca, all of which were preserved in its Germplasm Bank (Bagerim). This exhibition included the main types of melon (such as Tendral, Piel de Sapo, Amarillo, Rochet, and Cantaloup, among others), most of them originating in the Region of Murcia.
Minister of the Environment, Antonio Luengo, said “the purpose of this exhibition has been to publicise and make known the great morphological, sensory, and nutritional composition variability of this collection. This has been possible thanks to the actions included in the Melomur project.”
The event, organised by the teams of Sustainability and Quality of Horticultural Products and Improvement of Horticultural Crops of Imida, was attended by more than 100 people, including researchers, technicians, producers, and exporters of the sector that hope to find new business opportunities thanks to the collaborations between companies and researchers developed throughout this project, Luengo highlighted.
The final objective of the Melomur strategic project, which was started in 2017 and includes the participation of three other regional public research centers (Cebas, UPCT, and UMU), is to market new varieties of melon with high added value characteristics, adapted to the cultivation and the Murcian markets, through the use of traditional and biotechnological tools.
In addition to the four participating research centers, this project has the collaboration of private companies such as Abiopep (a technology-based company dedicated to the development of innovative solutions that add value to the horticultural sector); Unigenia (improvement of varieties and production of high added value seeds) and Procomel (a renown producing and exporting company in the country).
Melomur is a strategic project included in the Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation in the Region of Murcia, which has received 722,500 euro of aid from European FEDER Funds.
