This study aimed to evaluate the quality characteristics of Gastrodia elata Blume fermented by lactic acid bacteria after saccharifying by 3 methods including enzyme, malt, and rice-nuruk. The lactic acid bacteria (LAB), Pediococcus inopinatus BK-3, isolated from kimchi could reduce the unpleasant taste and odor of Gastrodia elata Blume. The total acidity value of Gastrodia elata fermented by LAB on the malt and rice-nuruk extract solution for 3 days was 2.23% and 2.33%, respectively. After saccharification by malt and rice-nuruk extract solution for 3 days, the viable cell number of fermented Gastrodia elata was 9.14 log cfu/mL and 9.27 log cfu/mL, respectively. The total acidity values were increased above 3.35% by malt and rice-nuruk extract solution for 8 days. Thus, the viable cell number was the highest by malt and rice-nuruk extract solution fermentation for 3 days. The amino acid content of Gastrodia elata fermented by LAB after saccharification by malt extract solution was higher than that of other saccharifying methods. The free sugar content and p-hydroxybenzyl derivatives induced by the enzyme method were higher than those of other saccharifying methods. The overall acceptability was the highest at 4.2 point in Gastrodia elata fermented by malt extract solution.

High-quality and high-phytonutrient watermelon fruits have strong market opportunities besides their health related benefits. Hence, investigating quality and nutritional related traits of watermelon genetic resources could provide important baseline data in breeding for increased lycopene content thereby increasing the marketability of watermelon. To this end, we have examined some fruit morphological traits and lycopene content of 105 genetic resources. Seeds, originally obtained from 22+ countries, were obtained from the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Jeonju, South Korea, grown in an experimental field and harvested at a fully mature stage. The size of pistil scar (SPS), the width of stripes (WS), weight of fruit (WF), length of fruit (LF), width of fruit (WIF), the thickness of pericarp (TP), soluble solids content (SSC), fruit shape in longitudinal section, ground color of skin, the intensity of the green color of skin, fruit shape at the apical part, grooving distribution, conspicuousness of stripes, and main color of the flesh were recorded on the field and inside laboratory and the lycopene was measured using spectrophotometric and HPLC methods. Watermelon fruits have shown a diverse morphological characters. Red and pink fleshed fruits dominated in the entire collections. Fruits with higher thickness of rind were found to exhibit less soluble solid content (SSC). Korean origin fruits were characterized by intermediate SSC while the United States of America (USA), Russia (RUS), Tajikistan (TJK), Turkmenistan (TKM), Taiwan (TWN), and Uruguay (URY) originated fruits had the highest SSC. The lycopene content varied between 41.37 and 182.82 ㎍/g, 2.81 and 163.72 ㎍/g, and 3.54 and 255.47 ㎍/g using HPLC, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and microplate reader spectrophotometer, respectively. Red- and pink-fleshed fruits had the highest levels of lycopene content compared to the yellow- and orange-fleshed. Lycopene content had a significant positive correlation with SSC, however, no correlations were detected between lycopene and other quantitative fruit morphological characters. Our study demonstrated high diversity exists in fruit morphological traits and lycopene content of the germplasm collections which provide beneficial baseline data for a future breeding program and utilization of watermelon germplasm collections in gene banks for the maintenance and improvement of the current levels of production, marketability, and health-related benefit of watermelon fruits.