Effect of vine and fruit pruning on yield attributes of two watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) cultivars

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effect of vine and fruit pruning on watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) yield. Five pruning methods: P1=no pruning at all, P2=pruning to four vines with two fruits per vine, P3=pruning to four vines with one fruit per vine, P4=pruning to three vines with two fruits per vine and P5=pruning to three vines with one fruit per vine were evaluated on two watermelon cultivars: ‘Sugar baby’ and ‘Julie F1’ under a factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. Investigations were carried out in the seasons 2017A (short rains) and 2017B (long rains) at Karama and Rubona experimental sites belonging to Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board. The obtained results indicated a significant difference among the different cultivars and pruning methods tested during both seasons and at two sites. Generally, all studied parameters recorded higher values during season 2017B than in season 2017A at Rubona site. A similar trend was recorded at Karama site except that the fruit yield per plant and per hectare for plants which were pruned to three vines with one fruit reduced during season 2017B as compared to season 2017A. The highest number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, fruit yield per plant and per hectare was recorded in ‘Julie F1’ compared to ‘Sugar baby’ at both sites and during both seasons. Higher fruit weight was obtained when both cultivars were pruned to three or four vines with one fruit per vine. Higher number of fruits per plant and higher fruit yield per plant was observed under pruning to four vines with two fruits per vine at Rubona site; while at Karama site, higher fruit yield per plant was recorded under pruning to three vines with one fruit or two fruits per vines and pruning to four vines with two fruits per vine. A similar trend was observed in fruit yield per hectare. Based on results of the current study, cultivation of the hybrid ‘Julie F1’ and pruning to three vines with one fruit per vine is recommended for optimum watermelon yield with big-sized fruits.