Effect of Fruit Load and Growth Regulators on Seed Yield and Quality in Watermelon Hybrid Seed Production

摘要

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of fruit load and growth regulators on seed yield and quality of hybrid watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb) Arka Jyothi. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with two factorial concept (four fruit load levels as main factor viz. L_1: Two fruits retained per vine, L_2: Three fruits retained per vine, L_3: Four fruits retained per vine, L_4 : All fruits retained per vine and five growth regulators as sub factor viz. G_1: No spray (water spray), G_2: GA3 @ 25 ppm, G_3: Ethrel @ 250 ppm, G_4: TIBA @ 500 ppm, G_5: CCC @ 500 ppm) in three replications. The results indicated that better seed quality could be obtained by spraying ethrel @ 250 ppm and retention of two fruits per vine in hybrid watermelon seed production. From these results, it can be stated that, consistently higher seed yield could be obtained by spraying ethrel @ 250 ppm at three fruit load per vine in watermelon hybrid seed production.