Dr. Penelope Perkins-Veazie, a postharvest physiologist with the Plants for Human Health Institute, received the 2011 Vegetable Publication Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science, as co-author of “Use of external indicators to predict maturity of mini-watermelon fruit.”
The article, published in the July 2010 issue of HortScience, presented research findings from a project that sought to determine a means of estimating maturity of mini-watermelons at harvest. Factors such as fruit circumference, weight, ground-spot color and the number of dead tendrils were evaluated, determining that certain characteristics were good indicators of fruit ripeness and pH.
Established in 1985, the Vegetable Publication Award recognizes the author(s) of the outstanding paper in the designated area published in the previous year’s issues of The Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, HortScience or HortTechnology.
Other contributing authors include Edgar L. Vinson III, Floyd M. Woods, Joseph M. Kemble and J. Raymond Kessler, Auburn University, and Angela Davis, USDA-ARS.
Writer: Justin Moore