• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.285-289
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• 2004

The bloody watermelon exhibiting dark red and fermentation off-flavor results in a great economic loss. As an effort to clarify the cause of the bloody watermelon, relationship between the fermentational off-flavor and the presence of endophytic bacteria was studied. The number of endophytes was 2.2-37.0 ${\times}10^3$ cfu/g fw (fresh weight) in normal watermelons, compared to 1.26-1.75 ${\times}10^6$ cfu/g fw in bloody ones. Seventeen bacteria among 56 isolates from bloody watermelons could induce bloody watermelons. The bacteria responsible for bloody watermelons were mainly Gram negative: aerobic Pseudomonas spp and some anaerobic bacteria. The results in this study strongly suggested that the bloody watermelons were produced by abnormal fermentation and growth of endophytic Gram negative bacteria.