Abstract
Worldwide, Brazil holds the fifth position in melon fruits exportation, further expanding its products to provide for the growing demand. This expansion is the result of the development and application of new technologies, including the management of the use of biostimulants. However, for melon crops, the information in the literature on the use of biostimulants remains limited to the effects of different doses on fruit quality at the time of harvest. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of different methods of pre-harvest application of two biostimulants on the production and postharvest conservation of fruits of yellow melon cv. Iracema. The treatments consisted of a combination of three factors: two plant biostimulants (Crop Set® and Spray Dunger®), two application methods of the products (fertigation and spraying), and five times of postharvest storage (0, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days). An additional control treatment corresponded to plants without biostimulant application. The fruits were evaluated for production and physicochemical attributes: average mass, yield, flesh firmness, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, SSC/TA ratio, pH, total soluble sugars, and weight loss. Fertigation is the recommended application method of biostimulants for yellow melon due to its effect on the increase of average mass, yield, flesh firmness, soluble solids content, and total soluble sugars of the fruits in relation to the spraying method.
Highlights
Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is a vegetable belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family that is greatly appreciated and economically expressive, with a world production of 27,349,214 tonnes in 2018 (FAO 2020)
The effect of the application method was observed on the average mass and yield of fruits (Figure 1)
The interaction between plant biostimulant and application method was significant on total soluble sugars (TSS) (Figure 3A)
Summary
Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is a vegetable belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family that is greatly appreciated and economically expressive, with a world production of 27,349,214 tonnes in 2018 (FAO 2020). Melon is among the twenty Brazilian crops with the highest export volume, demonstrating its importance for agriculture of this country. The adoption of product’s technologies has contributed to increasing the production of the fruits; to improve the yield and quality of fruits, it is important to test it before. In Brazil, yellow melon is the group with the highest participation in the production and export of melons because of its highest postharvest conservation (Nunes et al 2011). Fruits of these group are available for consumption when they reach a soluble solids content higher than 9° Brix (Lobo et al 2019)
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