Abstract: Fruits from 10 varieties of oriental melon were measured for 8 textural indexes and 6 physicochemical indexes related to texture by a texture analyzer and conventional physicochemical analysis. Correlation analysis, factor analysis and systematic cluster analysis were used to establish a comprehensive evaluation method for the textual quality of oriental melon, which is expected to provide a theoretical basis for further exploration of the key factors determining the textural characteristics of oriental melon and the selection of fine varieties. A significantly positive correlation between texture profile analysis (TPA) hardness and gumminess, chewiness or puncture hardness (P < 0.01), between adhesive force and adhesiveness (P < 0.01), between cohesiveness and gumminess or chewiness (P < 0.05), between gumminess and chewiness (P < 0.01), and between puncture hardness and gumminess or hewiness were observed. In addition, there was a significantly negative correlation between protopectin and water content and TPA hardness, puncture hardness, chewiness or gumminess (P < 0.05), between water-soluble pectin content and puncture hardness (P < 0.05), and between cellulose content and cohesiveness (P < 0.05), but starch content exhibited a significantly positive correlation with adhesive force and adhesiveness (P < 0.05). Three principal factors were extracted by factor analysis based on eigenvalues greater than one, explaining cumulatively 89.40% of the total variance. According to their representative indexes, the principal factors were named as tough-hard factor, adhesive-soft factor and cohesive factor, accounting for 52.76%, 25.73%, and 10.91% of the total variance, respectively. From the comprehensive score model obtained, the textual quality of ‘Yumeiren’ and ‘Caihongqihao’ were superior, ‘Hongpimian’ and ‘Xiangshami’ were poor, and the other varieties were in the middle. Systematic cluster analysis divided the 10 oriental melon varieties according to their textual properties into 5 classes: I including ‘Qianyu’, ‘Baitangguan’, and ‘Tetianmibao’, with crisp and hard texture; II including ‘Hongdaobian’ and ‘Yangjiaomi’, with crisp texture; III including ‘Hualeiwang’, ‘Caihongqihao’, and ‘Yumeiren’, with tough and hard texture; IV including ‘Xiangshami’, with sandy and soft texture; and V including ‘Hongpimian’, with adhesive and soft texture.

Key words: oriental melon, textural quality, texture characteristics, factor analysis, comprehensive evaluation