Crescimento, produção e qualidade de frutos de melão cantaloupe em função da utilização do agrotêxtil e do numero de frutos por planta.

Abstract

The melon has excelled in the Northeast because of soil and climate conditions that favor the cultivation of this vegetable crop. It is a plant of the Cucurbitaceae family which allows various forms of manipulation of the relationship between the source and the drain by means of their cultural practices. A possibility to change the font ratio: drain the melon would be the use of the agrotextile (nonwoven fabric) at different times associated with fixing different number of fruits per plant. The study aimed to assess the assimilated partition, productivity and the quality of the melon fruit when subjected to removal of the nonwoven at different times and setting fruit in the plant. The experiment was conducted in the Science Center and Agrifood Technology (CCTA / UFCG) during the period from August to December 2014, with melon hybrid plants Cantaloupe Hopey King in the spacing of 2.0 x 0.8 m in Pombal - PB. The experimental design was a randomized block with treatments assigned to a split plot arrangement (5x3), which consisted in part of different periods of withdrawal of the row cover (20, 24, 28, 32, and 36 days after transplantation) and sub plot of different fruits fixings in the plant (1 fruit, 2 fruit and free) in eight repetitions, four used for the growth of reviews and four for the production and fruit quality. It was evaluated in this study to quantify the expression of sex, growth and assimilated partition, production and fruit quality. The withdrawal of agrotextile at different times and the number of fruits per plant significantly affected the supply relationship: drain. The withdrawal times of the nonwoven and fruit fixation promoted alterations in the growth, production and fruit quality of melon. The delay in the withdrawal of agrotextile 20.0 to 36.0 DAT provided higher number of hermaphrodite flowers, dry weight of leaf and shoot, leaf area and reduction in soluble solids. Free fruiting in the plant reduced the number of hermaphrodite flowers and raised the dry matter of the fruit and harvest index. The fruit mass and crop yield peaked with the removal of agrotextile to 26.6 and 25.1 DAT, respectively. Plants with one and two fruits presented greater mass but with lower productivity compared to plants with fruits of free determination. The use of nonwoven from 25 DAT difficult cultural practices as weeding and combing plants due to the intertwining branches into the tunnel leading to higher drop flowers and reducing crop yield.