The Effects of Different Pruning Methods and Height of Fruit Setting on Plant Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality of Melons Grown in Greenhouses

摘要

This research was carried out to determine the effects of different pruning methods and height of fruit setting in greenhouse melon production for two years. The first year, the Makdimon F1 variety was used, the second year Galia H5 F1 and Deltex F1 varieties were also tested. The first year the plants were pruned as (a) young plants were stopped after the second leaf and the strongest branch was left as the main stem (top shoot pruning) and (b) control (non-pruned). In both treatments the heights of fruit setting were 30 and 60 cm. In the second year, two stems and 45 cm fruit setting height also were added. In the first year's experiment, although there were no significant differences between the treatments, top shoot pruning increased the early and total yield compared with the control. A fruit setting height of 60 cm gave better results than 30 cm. In the second year, the best yield was obtained from top shoot pruning with two stems (8.30 kg/m 2 ), followed by top shoot pruning with a single stem (6.92 kg/m 2 ) and the control (6.93 kg/m 2 ). Two stems increased total yield by 20 % compared with a single sitem. The height of fruit setting a affected plant growth, yield and fruit quality parameters. The best result was obtained from the plants with 45- 60 cm fruit setting height.