Abstract
In the past decade, there has been a significant rise in the consumption of wild collected horned melon (Cucumis metuliferus). Commercial production of the crop is growing, yet little information is available on its agronomy. Seed germination experiments were carried out at Midlands State University, to establish the effect of seed maturity at harvest, and the slimy seedcoat on germination of horned melon seed. Seed was manually extracted from fruit harvested at the mature green fruit (MG), colour break stage (CB) and fully ripe (FR) stage. Three replicates of fifteen seeds from each colour group were placed in petri dishes lined with cotton wool, wetted with distilled water and placed in an incubator at 25 °C. The petri dishes were arranged in a completely randomised design. The MG seeds showed 0% germination, whereas 13% of the CB seeds germinated by the end of the experiment. Seeds obtained from fully ripe (FR) fruits showed the highest germination rate (56%) (P < 0.05) and germinated in the shortest period. In the second experiment, seed harvested from the CB and FR stages were used, with one set of the seed having the slimy seedcoat removed and the second set having the slimy seedcoat intact. There was no significant interaction between seed harvesting stage and slimy seed coat removal (P = 0.331). However, removing the slimy seed coat significantly enhanced germination, with seeds lacking the coat showing 86.7% germination, 27.5% higher than those with an intact seed coat (59.2%) (P = 0.001). Removal of the slimy seedcoat improved seed germination in both the laboratory (P < 0.001) and greenhouse pot (P = 0.021) experiments. Significant germination improvement occurred when slimy seedcoat was removed.
Similar content being viewed by others
Seed germination and vigor: ensuring crop sustainability in a changing climate
Adaptation of grassweeds to spring cropping through changes in germination, flowering time and fecundity
Influence of environmental factors on seed germination and seedling characteristics of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Sunderland, T., Powell, B., Ickowitc, A. Food security and nutrition.; Bongor, Indonesia., (2013).
Omotayo, A. O. & Aremu, A. O. Underutilized African indigenous fruit trees and food–nutrition security: Opportunities, challenges, and prospects. Food Energy Secur. 9, e220. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.220 (2020).
Chacha, J. S., Ofoedu, C., Suleiman, R. & Jumbe, J. Underutilized fruits: challenges and constraints for domestication 133–150 (Academic Press, 2022).
Kunene, E. N., Nxumalo, K. A., Ngwenya, M. P. & Masarirambi, M. T. Domesticating and commercialisation of indigenous fruit and nut tree crops for food security and income generation in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Curr. J. Appl. Sci. Technol. https://doi.org/10.9734/cjast/2020/v39i1630733 (2020).
Muthoni, J. & Shimelis, H. Minor cucurbits from Africa: Horned melon (Cucumis metuliferus e. Mey. ex Naud In). Aust. J. Crop Sci. 18, 723–730 (2024).
Usman, J., Sodipo, O., Kwaghe, A. & Sandabe, U. Uses of Cucumis metuliferus: A review. Cancer Biol. 51, 25–34 (2015).
Usman, J., Sodipo, O., Sandape, U. Phytochemical screening and acute toxicity study of cucumis metuliferus E. Mey. Ex. Naudin Fruit Extract in Cockerels. Int J Phytomed 62243–247 (2014).
Rani, B. et al. Incredible benefits of exotic kiwano (horned melon) for wellness, vigor and vitality. Int. J. Biol. Innov. https://doi.org/10.46505/IJBI.2019.1204 (2019).
Amagon, K.I., Wannang, N.N., Iliya, H.A., Ior, L.D., Chris-Otubor, G.O. Flavonoids extracted from fruit pulp of cucumis metuliferus have antiviral properties. Br. J. Pharm. Res. (2012).
Adelabu, D. B. & Franke, A. C. Status of underutilized crop production: Its potentials for mitigating food insecurity. Agron. J. 115, 2174–2193. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21410 (2023).
Gupta, N. et al. Challenges and opportunities in cucumber seed production. Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. Appl. Sci. 10, 2135–2144. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2021.1001.245 (2021).
Nyamapfene, K. The Soils of Zimbabwe. In Nehanda Publishers.; p. 179. (1991).
Peltonen-Sainio, P., Rajala, A. & Jauhiainen, L. Hidden viability risks in the use of farm-saved small-grain seed. J. Agric. Sci. 149, 713–724. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021859611000335 (2011).
Okigbo, R., Ugwu, C. Neglected crops of Africa., 2197–2210. (2021)
Hampton, J. G., Boelt, B., Rolston, M. P. & Chastain, T. G. Effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on seed quality. J. Agric. Sci. 151, 154–162. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021859612000263 (2013).
Pathania, K., Kaur, N., Kaur, D. & Singh, R. Mobilization of fruit pulp reserves towards seeds in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) fruits harvested at variable developmental stages. Plant Physiol. Rep. 27, 268–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40502-022-00667-8 (2022).
Passam, H. C., Theodoropoulou, S., Karanissa, T. & Karapanos, I. C. Influence of harvest time and after-ripening on the seed quality of eggplant. Sci. Hortic. 125, 518–520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2010.04.007 (2010).
Corbineau, F. Oxygen, a key signalling factor in the control of seed germination and dormancy. Seed Sci. Res. 32, 126–136. https://doi.org/10.1017/S096025852200006X (2022).
Foschi, M. L., Juan, M., Pascual, B. & Pascual-Seva, N. Influence of seed-covering layers on caper seed germination. Plants 12, 439. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12030439 (2023).
Leubner-Metzger, G. Functions and regulation of β-1,3-glucanases during seed germination, dormancy release and after-ripening. Seed Sci. Res. 13, 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1079/SSR2002121 (2003).
Vishal, B. & Kumar, P. P. Regulation of seed germination and abiotic stresses by gibberellins and abscisic acid. Front. Plant Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.00838 (2018).
Thomson, A. J. & El-Kassaby, Y. A. Interpretation of seed-germination parameters. New For. 7, 123–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00034195 (1993).
Acknowledgements
This study benefited from studies done by the following students: Nelson Mlambo, Thembilihle Mhlahlayazi and Marvelline Chifamba, for the partial fulfilment of their BSc Agronomy and Horticulture Degrees. Equipment and facilities to carry out this research were availed by the departments of Horticulture and Agronomy as well as the Department of Agriculture Practice of the Midlands State University. The authors are sincerely grateful for this support.
Funding
This research did not receive funding from external funders.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Tavagwisa Muziri: conceptualisation, Methodology, Supervision, Software Nelson Mlambo : investigation, Writing—original draft preparation Chifamba Marvelline: validation, Software- validation, Thembilihle Mhlahlayazi: Laboratory—validation, Bridget Mwabvu: writing—reviewing and editing, Investigation -validation, visualisation Ignatious Chagonda: investigation, Writing—reviewing and editing, Tendayi Madanzi: writing—reviewing and editing, Marjory Takawira : investigation- laboratory techniques. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Reprints and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mlambo, N., Chifamba, M., Mhlahlayazi, T. et al. Influence of fruit maturity and slimy seed coat on seed traits and germination of horned melon (Cucumis metuliferus E. Mey. Ex Schrad.).
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40932-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40932-6
Keywords
- Wild fruits
- Horned melon
- Kiwano
- Dormancy
- Germination percentage
Source: Ecology - nature.com
