Abstract:
Watermelon is an important horticultural crop which is grown in warm climate worldwide.
However, its yield and quality is low owing to lack of high yielding improved varieties and poor
knowledge of using mulches. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted in west Dembia district
under irrigation from January to April 2020 to investigate the effect of mulches on growth, fruit
yield and quality of watermelon varieties. Factorial combinations of two varieties of watermelon
(Crimson Sweet and Sugar Baby) and four types of mulches (black plastic, white plastic, grass
mulch and no mulch as control) were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three
replications. Data were collected and analyzed on crop phenology, growth, fruit yield and quality
of watermelon using SAS 9.4 software. The result of the study revealed that mulches and varieties
had significant effect on growth, fruit yield and quality attributes of watermelon. Moreover, the
interaction effect of mulches and varieties had significant (P<0.05) influence on number of lateral
branches per vine, number of marketable fruit per plant, number of total fruit per plant, average
fruit weight, marketable fruit yield, total fruit yield, total soluble solid, titratable acidity, pulp
weight and soil moisture content. In general, the results indicated that Crimson Sweet variety with
black plastic mulch recorded in the highest average fruit weight (7.91 kg), marketable fruit yield
(68.71 t ha
-1
), total fruit yield (72.42 t ha
-1
), total soluble solid (11.03
xiv
0
brix) and fruit pulp weight
(2753.2 g). As a result, it could be concluded that the use of Crimson Sweet variety and mulching
with black plastic increased fruit yield and quality of watermelon. On the other hand, the use of
Crimson Sweet variety and mulching with grass mulch resulted in the highest benefit cost ratio of
5.8 with highest net return and followed by Crimson Sweet variety mulched with black plastic and
benefit cost ratio of 2.6 with higher income. Therefore, the use of Crimson Sweet variety and
mulching with grass mulch is economically beneficial. However, this result may not be a
guarantee, since it is one season and location data. Hence, need to confirm across locations and
over seasons.
