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Physiological Analysis of Growth and Yield of Watermelon (Citrullus ianatus Thunb Musf) in Relation to Irrigation and Nitrogen Fertilization
Author(s) -
Hegde D. M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of agronomy and crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.095
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-037X
pISSN - 0931-2250
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-037x.1988.tb00625.x
Subject(s) - dry matter , human fertilization , leaf area index , irrigation , agronomy , yield (engineering) , biology , horticulture , metallurgy , materials science
Abstract Analysis of growth and yield of watermelon in relation to irrigation and N fertilization carried out at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, during 1983–84 and 1984–85 indicated that frequent irrigations when the soil matric potential at 15 cm depth reached ‐25 kPa resulted in maximum dry matter accumulation and distribution, leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), net assimilation rate (NAR) and crop growth rate (CGR) leading to higher fruit yield as compared to irrigations at ‐50 and ‐75 kPa. Imposing a stress of ‐75 kPa either during pre‐flowering or flowering or fruit development phase adversely affected various growth parameters resulting in reduced yield as compared to that irrigated uniformly at ‐25 kPa. Increasing levels of N fertilization increased the dry matter accumulation and distribution through higher LAI, LAD and CGR and contributed larger proportion of the dry matter to fruits resulting in higher fruit yield.