Effect of sowing dates, varieties and covering materials of low tunnels on plant growthand fruit yield of watermelon Poonam1, Lakhawat S.S.1,*, Kumar Harshit1, Sharma Vikas2 1Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India 2School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India *Corresponding author’s email: lakhawatss@gmail.com
Online Published on 14 February, 2024. Abstract A field experiment was carried outwith three replications under factorial randomized block design for two years at the Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur, Rajasthan. The treatments consisted of three sowing dates i.e.15th December (S1), 30th December (S2) and 15th January (S3), and two varieties viz., red fleshed (V1) and yellow fleshed (V2) along-with four covering materials of low tunnelscomprisingno covering (C0),polythene sheet covering (C1), covering with non-woven polypropylene sheet (C2) and insect net covering (C3). Among three transplanting dates, two varieties and four types of covering materials of low tunnels, the performance of watermelon crop for early sowing date i.e.15th December (S1), red fleshed variety (V1) and polythene sheet (C1) as covering material of low tunnelswas observed statistically superior with respect to plant growth and fruit yield parameters. Overall, the results showed that the response of the watermelon crop grown under the low tunnelswas significantly influenced by the different sowing dates, varieties and covering materials. The adoption of a low tunnel method for growing watermelons with the expected sowing date, variety and cover material will undoubtedly help farmers to optimize plant growth and yields of watermelon over conventional farming practices, more so as a mitigation strategy to climate change. Top Keywords Climate change, Crop growth, Fruit yield, Low tunnels, Protected condition, Sowing dates, Watermelon. Top |