Growth, plant height, physiological and quality of rockmelon (Cucumis melo L.) influenced by fertilizer types and pollinated bees (Trigona thoracica smith) under netted house
Fertilizer is an important substance containing chemical element that improve rockmelon growth either from organic or inorganic source. To produce a good quality of rockmelon, it has to be planted in netted greenhouse to avoid pest and disease infection and irrigated using a fertigation system. H...
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2020
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Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/104557/1/FP%202022%2019%20IR.pdf |
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Summary: | Fertilizer is an important substance containing chemical element that improve
rockmelon growth either from organic or inorganic source. To produce a good
quality of rockmelon, it has to be planted in netted greenhouse to avoid pest and
disease infection and irrigated using a fertigation system. However, farmers
required high cost for greenhouse construction, fertilizer and labour to do
assisted pollination for rockmelon production. Two experiments were carried out
with the objectives of study were (i) to determine the changes on growth, yield
and quality of rockmelon influenced by different types of fertilizer and (ii) to
compare the successful rate of different pollination methods. The experiment
was conducted in Field 2, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
Serdang, Selangor. In Experiment 1, five different ratio of organic (OF) and
chemical (CF) fertilizer: (T1) 100% CF + 0% CF (1:0) as control, (T2) 75% CF +
25% OF (3:1), (T3) 50% CF + 50% OF (1:1), (T4) 25% CF + 75% OF (1:3) and
(T5) 0% CF + 100% OF (0:1) were tested. The experiment was arranged in
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. Plant height,
leaf length and leaf width of rockmelon were measured at every week interval
until 6 weeks after planting (WAP) of maximum growth, while physiological
changes including photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance and
chlorophyll content were measured at 30 and 60 days after planting (DAP).
Rockmelon fruit diameter was measured at every week interval after flower
bloomed. Fruit weight and postharvest quality rockmelon including soluble solid
concentration (SSC), colour, firmness, sugar (sucrose, glucose and fructose)
and organic acid (citric, malic, oxalic and succinic acid) as well as macronutrient
content (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) in leaf tissue were measured at harvest stage.
Plant height of rockmelon of T1 and T2 were significantly higher than T3, T4 and
T5. The leaf length and width of rockmelon increased as plant height increased.
The types of fertilizer used which has different composition of nutrient content
has influenced on plant growth. Stomatal conductance, photosynthesis rate and transpiration rate on leaf also increased as plant height, leaf length and leaf width
increases. Besides, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis rate and transpiration
rate were higher at 30 DAP and decreased at 60 DAP. T1 had significant higher
stomatal conductance, photosynthesis rate and transpiration rate compared to
other treatment. The chlorophyll content of T5 and T1 increased at 30 DAP and
the reading was decreasing for T1 at 60 DAP. T1 of rockmelon showed the
highest fruit diameter and fruit weight followed by T2, T3, T4 and T5. The fruit
colour in term of lightness (L*) and chromaticity (Ch*) had no significant
difference among treatments, while hue angle (h*) of fruit is significant higher at
T1 followed by T2 to T5 with no significant difference each other and T5 has the
lowest Ch*. In addition, T1 showed the significantly highest SSC (14.5%) and
lowest fruit firmness than other treatment followed by T2. The fruit firmness
decreases as a result of SSC increases. There were significantly different on
organic acid content between the treatments. Plant treated with T5 has the
highest organic acid (oxalic, malic, citric and succinic acid). The amount of
fumaric acid showed a little amount and almost closed each other between all
treatments. In Experiment. 2, the effect of two factors including fertilizer type (FT)
and pollination method (PM) were tested on growth and yield of rockmelon. The
rockmelon plant was fertilized using different FT (T1 and T2) and were subjected
to three PMs (bees, human and natural). The experiment was arranged in split
plot design with factorial and four replications. Plant growth of each treatment
showed no significant between treatment and no interaction between PM and
FT. There were significantly different on pollination rate as influenced by PM, FT
and interaction between PM and FT. Results showed rockmelon plant fertilized
with T2 and pollinated by human showed the highest pollination rate compared
to other treatment and followed by pollinated by bees under both types of
fertilizer used. There were no significant difference on fruit weight, fruit diameter
between treatments with T2 exhibited the highest fruit diameter than T1. The fruit
SCC and firmness had significant interaction between PM and FT. Plant fertilized
with T2 had the highest SCC and firmness than T1 treatment. There were no
significant differences on organic acid of rockmelon between treatments.
Significant interaction was found between PM and FT on sucrose content of
rockmelon fruit. Rockmelon plant pollinated by bees had the highest sucrose
content than human and natural pollination. Interestingly, rockmelon plant
pollinated by bee was found successfully to increase number of fruit and number
of survival bees is highest in netted greenhouse treated with T2 compared to
netted greenhouse treated with T1. However, the number of dead bees
increases with day after placing. In conclusion, T2 improved fruit quality and give
the same yield as T1 besides reducing the amount of CF. The use of OF attract
the bees to pollinate the flower than the use of CF with no different on organic
compound of rockmelon fruit. |
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