Drought is one of the most important abiotic factors that restrict the production of agricultural plants. An effective way to avoid the negative effects of drought on crops is to cultivate high-yielding varieties by grafting them onto drought-tolerant rootstocks with a strong root system. For this purpose, five different plant materials were used: wild watermelon rootstock, i.e., wild watermelon (A₁ and A₂), open-pollinated Lagenaria siceraria (gourd) rootstocks (A3), Cucurbita maxima Duchesne × Cucurbita moschata Duchesne (TZ-148) F1 watermelon rootstocks (A₄), and the ungrafted control. Five different irrigation depths were applied considering irrigation water (IW)/cumulative pan evaporation (CPE) rations (I₁₀₀: 1.0 IW/CPE, I₇₅:0.75 IW/CPE, I₅₀:0.50 IW/CPE, I₃₅:0.35 IW/CPE, and I₀:rain-fed). The results showed that the use of rootstock and water stress increased the rate of sugar content in the fruit. The highest positive relationship was found between glucose and total sugar, whereas the highest negative relationship was observed between sucrose and malic acid. Parameters such as glucose, total sugar, and citric acid showed significant changes in drought stress. Fructose and malic acid showed significant differences between the rootstocks. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that the A₂I₅₀ application was located in the positive region of both components and showed important results in these parameters. The TZ148 rootstock contributed significantly to the quality of watermelon. In addition, the A₂ wild watermelon rootstock showed respectable results, especially under water stress conditions. Based on these results, we conclude that the use of wild watermelon rootstock will contribute to the fruit quality in arid and semi-arid areas with limited water resources.

干旱是限制农业植物生产的最重要的非生物因素之一。避免干旱对农作物造成负面影响的有效方法是，通过将高嫁接品种嫁接到具有强大根系的耐旱根茎上来培育高产品种。为了这个目的，使用了五个不同的植物材料：野生西瓜砧木，即，野生西瓜（A ₁和A ₂），开放授粉瓠瓜（葫芦）砧木（A3），笋瓜杜申 × 南瓜杜申（TZ- 148）F1西瓜砧木（A ₄）和未移植的控件。考虑灌溉水（IW）/累积锅蒸发量（CPE）的比例，应用了五种不同的灌溉深度（I ₁₀₀：1.0 IW / CPE，I ₇₅：0.75 IW / CPE，I ₅₀：0.50 IW / CPE，I ₃₅：0.35 IW / CPE，而我₀：rain-fed）。结果表明，砧木和水分胁迫的使用增加了果实中糖的含量。葡萄糖和总糖之间的正相关性最高，而蔗糖和苹果酸之间的负相关性最高。葡萄糖，总糖和柠檬酸等参数显示出干旱胁迫的显着变化。果糖和苹果酸在砧木之间显示出显着差异。主成分分析（PCA）显示A ₂ I ₅₀应用位于两个成分的正区域中，并在这些参数中显示出重要的结果。TZ148砧木显着提高了西瓜的品质。另外，A ₂野生西瓜砧木显示出可观的结果，尤其是在水分胁迫条件下。根据这些结果，我们得出结论，在水资源有限的干旱和半干旱地区，使用野生西瓜砧木将有助于提高果实品质。