The Gama Melon research team led by Prof. Dr. Budi Setiadi Daryono, M.Agr.Sc., has managed to receive Plant Variety Protection (PVP) rights from the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture.
“In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have good news. Two varieties of Gama Melon, namely Hikapel and Meloni, have received PVP rights,” he said, Monday (1/6).
Budi explained that this was the first of such achievement made by a lecturer or researcher at UGM since its establishment in 1949. PVP rights are a type of intellectual property rights (IPR) granted by the state to protect plant varieties produced by plant breeders through plant breeding activities.
PVP can only be given to varieties of new, unique, uniform, stable and named plant types or species that have passed a series of tests.
Two varieties of Gama Melon that have successfully obtained PVP certificates, namely Hikapel and Meloni melons, were developed at the Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding, Faculty of Biology, UGM. Melon Hikapel was developed in 2012, while Meloni was developed in 2014.
He conveyed that the breeding carried out on melons is not a genetically modified product but uses a molecular genetic approach to screen for phenotypic stability and the inheritance of expected superior characteristics.
“The development of this Gama Melon research has been initiated since 1997 and to date, it has succeeded in creating 16 varieties of melons, 11 of which have obtained Registration Certificates from the Ministry of Agriculture and alhamdulillah, 2 of them are finally certified PVP,” said Budi as the head of the research team and holder of the PVP rights.
Since being assembled successfully in 2012, Hikapel melon has been successfully marketed and entered the market in the Superindo Yogyakarta region in 2014-2015 and the Carrefour region of Central Java in 2017, as well as AEON BSD Serpong in 2016. Currently, Hikapel and Meloni melons are limitedly marketed as a premium product, and consumed exclusively within UGM and as souvenirs for university guests, both domestic and foreign.
Hikapel melon has a distinctive sweet taste with a fragrant aroma and has an orange flesh color. This type of melon is rich in beta carotene, and even has the highest beta carotene content for all orange fruit melons.
While Meloni has a unique character in the form of an oval fruit with a sweet and fragrant fruit taste.
“We all hope that these two types of PVP-certified melons can benefit the wider community, including industry players and farmers, as well as being a motivation for other researchers to not only work, but be escorted to obtain a patent / PVP,” he said.
Budi said that he would not stop and will continue to work on his research to obtain PVP rights on melons or other commodities that were being developed. Likewise, it opens opportunities for cooperation that the Indonesian horticultural industry wants to do for these two types of melons.
The Gama Melon team is a multidisciplinary research group. Consisting of the Faculty of Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, and Faculty of Dentistry which are all actively involved in the development of melons from Gadjah Mada University in terms of breeding, plant diseases, post-harvest technology, to processing and utilization in the medical field.
