Effects of Grafting on Hexyl Acetate Biosynthetic Pathway in Peel and Flesh Tissues of Oriental Sweet Melon

The oriental sweet melon 'Yumeiren' was used as scion for graft cultivation.The results showed that grafting decreased the hexyl acetate content in peel tissue,and which was not affected in flesh tissue at 30th and 35th day after anthesis.The different stages of synthetic precursors were added to peel and flesh tissues at 30th day after anthesis respectively.Determination of aromatic compounds showed that grafting mainly decreased the transformation from hexanoate into hexyl acetate in peel tissue,while the transformations from aldehyde and alcohol into esters were unaffected.The transformations from three precursors into hexyl acetate were not affected in flesh tissue.Grafting decreased lipoxygenase(LOX),alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH) and alcohol acetyltransferase(AAT) activities in peel tissues of melon since 35th day after anthesis,and the enzymes showed different activities at 30th and 35th day in flesh tissues.