Abstract: The present invention relates to a modified watermelon PPO gene, the wild type of which is identified as SEQ ID NO: 1, encoding the protein of SEQ ID NO: 5, or the wild type of which encodes a protein that has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 5, wherein the modified PPO gene comprises one or more nucleotides replaced, inserted and/or deleted relative to the wild type, and wherein said one or more replaced, inserted and/or deleted nucleotides result in an absence of functional PPO protein. The present invention further relates to a watermelon plant which may comprise the modified PPO gene, wherein the homozygous presence of the modified PPO gene confers a pale seed color to the plant. The present invention also relates to methods for selecting, producing or the use of the watermelon plant of the invention.