EFFECT OF MULCHES ON GROWTH, FRUIT YIELD AND QUALITY OF WATERMELON (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) VARIETIES IN WEST DEMBIA DISTRICT, CENTRAL GONDAR ZONE, ETHIOPIA

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.