Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the productivity and quality of melon fruits as a function of the dose and time of application of biostimulant in the conditions of the semi-arid region of Paraíba. The experiment was carried out at the Federal University of Campina Grande, campus of Pombal - PB, Brazil, in a randomized block design in a 4 x 5 split plot scheme, with doses of biostimulant (0; 0.5; 1.0; 1, 5 and 2.0 L ha-1) and in the subset of the biostimulant application times (15; 20; 25 and 30 days before harvest - DAC), in four replications. Characteristics related to fruit production and quality were evaluated. There was no interaction between the factors of dose and application time of the biostimulant in any of the evaluated characteristics. Thus, the highest estimated values of number of fruits per plant, fruit mass and total melon production were obtained with the application of doses ranging from 0.9 to 1.5 L ha-1 and at the time of application it varied from 22,5 to 23.6 DAC. The content of soluble solids increased 5.5% when the biostimulant dose of 2.0 L ha-1 was used and 4.4% when the product was applied 15 days before harvest.
Highlights
In the state of Paraíba, favorable soil and climate conditions for melon growth and development are favorable, but there has been a low production and planted area, mainly due to the little diffusion and use of appropriate technology adopted by producers, which leads to the lack stimulation, low productivity and fruit quality
Soluble solids (p
Observing the behavior of these production-related variables as a function of the time of application of the biostimulant we can observe that there was a quadratic response to the number of fruits per plant, fruit mass and total crop yield with estimated maximum values of 2.4; 1.48 kg fruct-1 and 44.58 Mg ha-1 obtained at the times of application of the biostimulant of 23.6; 22.5 and 23.1 days before harvest (Figure 2)
Summary
In the state of Paraíba, favorable soil and climate conditions for melon growth and development are favorable, but there has been a low production and planted area, mainly due to the little diffusion and use of appropriate technology adopted by producers, which leads to the lack stimulation, low productivity and fruit quality This fact has led to the need to import fruits from other states to supply domestic demand, especially from Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Pernambuco. Biostimulants are substances of organic origin that contain, in addition to plant regulators, other substances that indirectly promote plant growth, such as carbohydrates and amino acids (Galindo et al, 2019) In this sense, the use of these substances is one of the most promising technologies to increase crop productivity and fruit quality. The objective of this research was to evaluate the production and quality of melon fruits as a function of dose and time of application of biostimulant under conditions of Pombal – PB, Brazil
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