Gbraguhé Désirée Victoire^1,, Adjouman Yao Désiré^{1, 2}, Adou Marc¹, Akely Pierre Martial Thierry^{1, 3}, Tetchi Fabrice Achille¹

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) has been described as an important source of nutritional compounds. Investigations carried out in Côte d'Ivoire show that there is very little scientific data on it. The aim of this study was to compare the physico-chemical and biochemical compositions of the pulp of two watermelon cultivars (Kaolack and Sugar Baby) from Jacqueville, Divo and Bassam, by production area and variety. The results showed that the Kaolack variety from Jacqueville was more acidic (0.17±0.00%) and had higher lipid contents (0.1±0.01 mg/g), while that from Divo had a higher dry matter content (5.37±0.06%). And finally, the Kaolack variety from Bassam appeared to be sweeter ESS (7.8±0.10%) and had a higher moisture content (98.47±0.06%) and pH (5.38±0.01). Sugar Baby from Jacqueville had high dry matter (5.73±0.4%) and fiber (0.46±0.01%), Sugar Baby from Divo was more concentrated in acid (0.17±0.00%), protein (0.58±0.02%) and moisture (97.57±0, 06%) and the Sugar Baby variety from Bassam was more concentrated in ESS sugar (7.89±0.06%) with a pH of (5.47±0.01) and high carbohydrate (11.65±0.07 mg/g), total sugar (0.70±0.00 mg/g) and reducing agent (0.52±0.00 mg/g) contents. The study highlighted the physico-chemical and biochemical composition of watermelon varieties grown in Côte d'Ivoire. However, these parameters differed from one production area to another and from one variety to another, which could be due to the impact of the production area and the variety.

watermelon, production areas, variety, Côte d'Ivoire, nutritional compound, comparative study