After losing three hectares (eight acres), Liu said he was unable to sleep because he could not shake the image of the fruit bursting.

"On 7 May, I came out and counted 80 [burst watermelons] but by the afternoon it was 100," he said. "Two days later I didn't bother to count any more."

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, new food scandal has occurred in China as fields of watermelons are being destroyed after farmers mistakenly applied growth accelerator.