FUW TRENDS IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(A Peer Review Journal)
e–ISSN: 2408–5162; p–ISSN: 2048–5170
keywords: Water melon, compost, NPK fertilizer, fruit weight
The study assessed the influence of compost and NPK fertilizer rates on the growth and fruit yield of water melon in 2008 and 2009 growing seasons. There were 24 treatments combination which consisted of four different varieties of water melon: sugar baby, kaolack, crimson sweet and charlston crey), six different types of fertilizer which were: 0% NPK, 100% NPK, 100% compost, 75% NPK + 25% compost, 50% NPK + 50% compost, and 25% NPK + 75% compost The experiments was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were collected on the growth and yield parameters of the crop and analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of probability. The results showed that application of compost and NPK fertilizer enhanced plant growth and fruit yield. The leaf number of Sugar baby variety is significant (P≤0.05). Sugar baby variety also produced the longest primary vine from application of 25%NPK + 75compost. Application of 50% NPK + 50% compost produced significant (P≤0.05) higher number of fruit per plant (15.0) from kaolack variety. Kaolack variety also gave the highest number of fruit (15.0) through the addition of 50% NPK + 50% Compost. Charlston crey produced the best fruit weight of (1.86 kg). Application of 50% NPK + 50% compost produced the highest fruit weight of (3.13 kg) for charlston crey variety .Therefore it was evident that application of fertilizer had effects on the growth and fruit weight of water melon in this study.
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