Growth and yield of watermelon affected by chemical fertilizers

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at Fruit Research Station, Department of Horticulture, Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh on growth and yield of watermelon affected by chemical fertilizers during the year 2010. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with Factorial concept (FRBD). In all there were 16 treatment combinations, which were assigned at random in each plots within replications such as a chemical fertilizers treatments in which four levels of Nitrogen (N1: 50, N2: 75, N3: 100 and N4: 125 kg/ha), two levels of Phosphorus (P1: 75 and P2: 100 kg/ha) and two Levels of Potassium (K1: 40 and K2: 60 kg/ha). The results of experiment reveal that growth characters such as number of branches per plant, number of nodes per plant and length of main axis were significantly influenced by higher dose of nitrogen (125 kg/ha). Number of branches and nodes per plant were also found significantly different due to levels of phosphorus and significant differences were observed in number of branches per plant and length of main axis due to different levels of potash. The yield attributing characters such as fruit length, number of fruits per plants and average fruit weight were significantly increased with increasing levels of nitrogen (0 to 125 kg/ha). Similarly yield attributing characters increased with increasing levels of potash (0 to 60 kg/ha). The average fruit weight was increased significantly with higher dose of phosphorus. Yield of fruit per plant and per hectare were registered maximum under higher dose of nitrogen (125 kg/ha) and potash (60 kg/ha).