New varieties of watermelons and melons are being developed at the Research Institute of Vegetable Growing of the Ministry of Agriculture, Chairman of the Board of the Institute Elmar Allahverdiyev told Report.

"As you know, one of the activities of the institute is the preservation of domestic varieties of melons and the organization of their gene pool. In recent years, we have managed to obtain seeds of six old varieties of melons - Gandi, Sineivaz, Reyhani, Shahnazar, etc. These varieties were planted in the Kurdamir district along with 10 new varieties of melons and 5 varieties of watermelons," he said.

According to Allahverdiyev, the institute's breeding scientists are creating new varieties of vegetables in Azerbaijan: "Our scientists have obtained hybrids of 60 varieties of tomatoes and 21 varieties of cucumbers intended for cultivation in a greenhouse. Currently, their productivity, resistance to diseases and pests are being tested."

He added that this year new potato varieties were planted in Lerik, Yardimli and Dashkasan districts: "Over the past 2 years, 9 new potato varieties have been included in the State Register."