GROWING BITTER WATERMELON IN UZBEKISTAN AND ITS HEALING PROPERTIES

The homeland of watermelon is the Middle East and India, where 7 species are known to science. Two of them are cultivated and eaten as food. Ripe fruits contain 10-12% of sugars and small amounts of medicinal compounds. Among them, the amino acid citrulline is more common in the rind of watermelon in improving kidney function and as a diuretic. There are also wild species of watermelon, including the bitter watermelon Bryonia alba cucurbitaceae, which is found for many years in the wild in the Kalahari Valley of South Africa and is known to occur in Iran.