Fawaz Al-haji Abboud⁽¹⁾ Ibrahim Al-Shetewi⁽¹⁾ and Nada Huseen ALAmeir^*(1)

(1). Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Alfurat University, Deir Al-Zour, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Eng. Nada Huseen ALAmeir. E-Mail: nadaa10074@gmail.com).

Received: 16/11/2018                               Accepted: 29/01/2019

Abstract

The research was carried out during 2017 and 2018 at a private farm in Deir Al-Zour in Agawat area on red watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L.) Niagara cultivar. The aim was to study the effect of different methods of pruning and foliar spray with nutritious solution on the quality of watermelons fruit by using different concentrations of the nutrient solution (Husone) (0, 2, 4 and 6) cm³\l per plant. The first time of spray was at the second real leaf formation, and the second spray was at the beginning of , while the third application was before two weeks of fruits maturity. Four pruning methods were followed, the first (A) was to keep three stems per plant and keep one fruit in each stem, the second (B)  was to keep four stems per plant and keep one fruit in each stem, the third (C) was to keep five stems per plant and keep one fruit in each stem, and the control (without pruning). The experiment was laid out according to RCBD (factorial) with four replications. The results showed  that there was a significant effect of pruning and Husone concentration in all studied traits. The control (without pruning) and the concentration of 0 cm³/L achieved the highest percentage of moisture in the fruits, which attained (94-93.6%) for the first and second seasons respectively, while the lowest value was when the plants pruned with four branches and sprayed with a concentration of 6 cm /L of Husone. The highest value of soluble solids was achieved when using the pruning method (A) with a concentrations of (4 and 6) cm³/L for the first and second seasons, while the lowest value was attained in the control which was not sprayed with Husone and reached (0.10 and 0.11%) for the first and second seasons, respectively. The results showed that the interaction between the pruning and Husone concentrations had a clear effect on the content of ascorbic acid in fruits, which reached the highest content when using the pruning method (A) with a concentration of 6 cm³/L (9 and  9.8 mg/100 g) for the first and second seasons respectively. The values ​​decreased significantly in the control which was not sprayed with Husone. The highest fruit weight was achieved when using the pruning method (A) with a concentration of 4 cm³/L (9 and  10.7 Kg/fruit) for the first and second seasons respectively. while the lowest value was attained in the control which was not sprayed with Husone and reached (4.4 and 5 Kg/fruit) for the first and second seasons, respectively.

Key words: Watermelon, Nutrient solution (Huzone), Pruning, Fruits quality.

Full paper in Arabic: PDF