Transformation of the recalcitrant melon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivars Kιrkağaç 637 and Noi Yarok was accomplished by wounding cotyledon explants by vortexing with carborundum prior to inoculation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The addition of silver nitrate to the regeneration‐selection medium reduced the transformation efficiency, as the percentage of the explants forming putative transgenic calli and bud‐like protuberances was decreased and no transgenic shoots were produced. Chimeric transgenic plants were obtained after the regeneration of putatively transformed callus, bud‐like protuberances, buds and shoots on selective medium with kanamycin. The treatments producing the most buds or shoots from explants after 30–40 days of cultivation were the most successful for the production of transgenic plants. Only treatments where explants were vortexed with carborundum produced transgenic melon shoots of either cultivar. Subculture every 18–20 days on fresh regeneration‐selection medium containing 50 mg/L kanamycin after either a relatively high (100 mg/L) or low level (50 mg/L) of kanamycin in the first regeneration‐selection medium was necessary for the successful transformation of cultivar Kιrkağaç 637. These techniques are now being used in breeding programs for the production of melon lines bearing resistances to zucchini yellow mosaic virus and cucumber mosaic virus, important viruses limiting agricultural production.

Protected conventional and organic farming systems for watermelon and melon were compared over a two-year period in the Mediterranean Amik plain of southern Turkey. Yield, fruit quality and growth responses of the vegetable crops were measured and compared as a function of conventional management, and three compos ted sheep-cattle manure treatments of 6 kg m-2 , 12 kg m-2 and 18 kg m-2 On average, total and marketable yields of watermelon and melon grown organically under low plastic tunnels showed a two-fold increase under the organic treatments of 12 kg m-2 and 18 kg m-2 relative to the protected conventional management system (p < 0.05).There was no significant difference in watermelon and melon yields between the manure application levels of 12 and 18 kg m-2 There were significant changes in mean fruit weight and width between the control and the manure level of 18 kg m-2 for watermelon and in mean stem diameter between the control and the manure levels of 12 and 18 kg m-2 for melon (p < 0.05).Multiple linear regression (MLR) models accounted for about 49% and 52% of variations in marketable yields of melon and watermelon as a function of the control and the manure levels of 12 and 18 kg m-2 , respectively. The findings indicate that protected organic watermelon and melon systems in this Mediterranean region can produce more total and marketable yields than protected conventional systems. Protected organic farming systems can assist in compliance with maximum residue limits imposed on exported agricultural commodities and reduce dependency on industrial fertilizers as well as emissions of fertilizer production-related greenhouse gases. *Corresponding