Effect of Sowing Date, Spacing and Fertilizer Levels on Crop Growth and Seed Yield of Hybrid Watermelon

摘要

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of sowing dates, spacing and fertilizer levels on crop growth and seed yield of hybrid watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb) Arka Jyothi. The experiment was laid out in split plot design consisting of 24treatment combinations involving four levels of sowing dates, two levels of spacing and threelevels of fertilizer doses as follows. Sowing dates (D)-D : November sowing, D2: December sowing, D3: January sowing, D4: February sowing, Spacing levels (S)- S,: 2.5 m x 1.0 m, S2: 3.0 m x 1.0 m, Fertilizer levels (F)- F,: 100:90:100 kg NPK per ha (RDF), F2: 125:110:125 kg NPK per ha, F3:150:135:150 kg NPK per ha in three replications. The results revealed that seeds sown during January month recorded significantly higher fruit weight (6.68 kg), fdled seed (86.96%), seed weight per fruit (4.82 g) and seed yield per ha (73.04 kg) over 15th November sowing. Likewise, 3.00 m x 1.00 m spacing and fertilizer dose of 150:135:150 kg NPK per ha recorded significantly higher seed weight per fruit (4.89 g), seed yield per vine (22.69 g) as compared to 100:90:100 NPK kg per ha and 2.50 m x 1.00 m spacing respectively. The findings of the study indicated that for production of quality hybrid seeds of watermelon, parental seeds could be sown during January with NPK levels of 150:135:150 kg ha~(-1) at 3.00 m x 1.00 m spacing.