Impact of different rootstocks and limited water on yield and fruit quality of melon grown in a field naturally infested with Fusarium wilt

Abstract

1- Grafting and rootstock-scion combinations affect fruit yield. 2- The yield increased with increasing the mean fruit weight, yield per plant and number of fruits per plant. 2- Grafting plants had a significant positive effect on fruit quality. 3- The mineral concentrations of melon-grafted plants are higher than those of non-grafted plants throughout the growth period. 4- The low soil moisture and not to graft for Fusarium wilt disease promotes the growth of the pathogen and the emergence of wilt symptoms. The experiment was performed to determine the effects of different rootstocks on yield and some fruit quality characteristics of grafted melon growth under the soil-borne pathogen ( Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.melonis ) and water stress conditions in 2019-2020, at Cumra in Konya Plain, Turkey. In the study, four different Cucurbita maxima x Cucurbita moschata hybrids rootstocks were used: 1-Non-grafted, 2-Ferro, 3-Maximus, and TZ 148. Edalı F 1 variety ( Cucumis melo var. Edalı F 1 ) was selected as a scion. Cotyledon splice grafting was used as the grafting method. The experiment was conducted in a split-plot design with three replications. The main plots constituted of three irrigation levels while the subplots were designed to have different rootstocks. Irrigation was supplied during the appropriate crop development stages (early vegetative, late vegetative, flowered-fruit setting and ripening) with enough water to fill the soil depth of 0–90 cm to field capacity (I100), to 50% of field capacity (I50) with decreased water supply levels and water-free (I0) conditions. As a result, it was found that yield and some fruit quality parameters were significantly affected by the treatments. The rootstocks were similarly effective on soil-borne pathogen management and resulted in yields higher than non-grafted plants in the both years. The highest yield (4.939–3.604 t da−1) was obtained under no water stress I100 / TZ148 rootstock combination (p<0.01). Other macro-micro nutrient and fruit sugar contents were significantly affected by treatments. The seasonal water consumptive use (ET) at I100 treatment was recorded as 205 and 231 mm, respectively, for the both years.