Effect of density and different pruning systems on earliness and yield of muskmelon grown in cold plastic house

摘要

A study of four pruning systems and plant density on the early and total yield of an early spring muskmelon crops grown under cold plastic house was carried out during two successive seasons of 1998 and 1999 at Otoriyah Research Station in Qatar. Influence of plant densities and pruning systems were tested on Polydoor cultivar. The best results were obtained with the principal stem maintained without pruning and the primary branches were cut off after two leaves, which resulted in earliness and hightotal yield. The density of 1.75 and 2 plants /m~2 gave the best yields, plant dry weight, flesh thickness and with little decrease in average fruit weight. The earliness s,TSS and yield give the better results in the high density of 1.75 and 2 plants/mwith monostem pruning system, the total yield was 9.96 and 9.83 kg/m~2, respectively in the first season of the experiment.