Watermelon Festival was held at the Central Stadium in Astrakhan. The holiday turned the stadium into the “berry town”, as the spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture of Astrakhan Oblast Khatia Gaprindashvili told to the agency “Interfax-South”. The visitors of the festival were able to estimate the so-called pond watermelons grown in the fields primarily occupied by fish farming.

      These watermelons are grown without the use of fertilizers. The residents of Astrakhan and the festival visitors learned about the selection novelties, participated in various competitions, watched the colorful theatrical program. The festival presented such rare varieties of berries, as “Lunar Watermelon”. A separate exposition was organized by the "All-Russian Research Institute of Irrigated Vegetable Growing and Melon Growing” (VNIIOB). They presented the experimental samples of watermelons with a blood red, pink, orange and green flesh. They also presented the “Vector” variety, which is smaller in comparison with the traditional varieties of watermelons, its size not exceeding 5 kg. Its sugar degree is 15%.