Comparison of rootstocks for melon cultivation, Sodom Valley
Vegetablesתחום או ענף ירקות
תאריך עדכון 29/9/2011
תיאור מלא Comparison of rootstocks for melon cultivation, Sodom Valley
Yoram Zvieli, Rivka Offenbach, Ami Maduel, Moran Kapun Patael, Rami Golan, Israel Tzabari – Central and Northern Arava R&D
Eviatar Ityel, Shimshon Omer – Extension Service (Sha'am) Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Amnon Koren – Hishtil Nurseries
Email for correspondence: yzvieli@arava.co.il
The practice of growing grafted melons, which was developed in response to the serious, widespread problem of collapse in melon, is relatively new. In contrast, the use of grafted watermelon has been widespread for a number of years and has been quite successful. The use of grafted melon is faced with the problem of incompatibility, which is expressed through the development of defects in guided melon crops and collapse in trellised melon. Preliminary observations suggest that it might be possible to solve these problems through the development of agro-techniques that allow the cultivation of grafted melon during most seasons of the year by providing the growing conditions necessary for the optimal development of the crop’s root system.
In an experiment carried out at the Zohar Research Station in Sodom Valley, we tested melon grafted onto nine different rootstocks, from Israeli and foreign development programs, that have improved disease resistance. From our monitoring of the development of the plants in this experiment, it appears that grafted plants develop more slowly than regular melon plants. We attribute this to the effect of high soil temperatures during the fall, which are more problematic for grafted plants. The examined rootstocks included 1042 and TZ148 (the control rootstock), which have moderate growth and among which no collapse was observed. Among the tested rootstocks, 1903 and PG14 stood out for their vigorous growth and the absence of any collapse.
We did not observe any significant differences in yield among the different rootstock treatments, except for the inferior yield of the rootstock GAD. The overall yields of the other examined rootstocks ranged from 3.7 to 4.0 kg/m2 and the export-quality yields ranged from 2.4 to 3.0 kg/m2. Among the examined rootstocks, 1903 and PG14 stood out for their high yields. We did not find any notable differences in the distribution of fruit defects on the day of harvest among the different rootstocks, nor did we observe any differences in the quality of the fruits from the different treatments following a storage period.
The grafted melon was transplanted at a stand density of 780 plants per dunam and produced a quantity of export-quality yield that was 50% higher than that of regular plants grown at the planting density typically used for that cultivar (3,120 plants per dunam). A calculation of the yield per plant shows that a regular 1625 melon plant yielded about 1.3 kg of export-quality fruit, as compared with 3.85 kg of export-quality fruit per grafted 1625 plant (average across all rootstocks). The additional yield of the grafted plants was expressed in the form of larger fruit, as well as greater numbers of fruit. The relatively late ripening observed among the grafted plants, as compared to the regular melon plants, appears to be due to high soil temperatures. In light of the good yield results observed for the grafted melon, these rootstocks should be included in an additional variety testing program and tested in a limited number of commercial plots.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Hazera, Zeraim Technologies, Samco and Tarsis companies and the Cultivar Development staff of Neve Yaar for working with us on this project and for helping to fund this study. We would also like to thank the Vegetable Division of the Plant Board for their support of this study and Hishtil Nurseries for their much-appreciated help with grafting and for contributing the plants.
שפה English
מלות מפתח Cucumis melo, melon, yield, fruit quality, grafted plants, grafting
מחבר Yoram Zvieli, Rivka Offenbach, Ami Maduel, Moran Kapun Patael, Rami Golan, Israel Tzabari, Eviatar Ityel, Shimshon Omer, Amnon Koren
שנה 2010
שייכות yzvieli
תאריך יצירה 29/9/2011
תאריך עדכון 29/9/2011