Effects of Water Stress on Yield, Growth and some Physiological Parameters in Iranian Melon

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Abstract

A study was conducted at the Research Station of Department of Horticultural Science (Tehran University, Karaj) to evaluate the effects of water stress on yield, growth and some physiological parameters in Iranian melon. The experiment was set out in a split plot design with three replicates. Treatments consisted of factorial arrangement of three Irrigation levels (starting irrigation at -50, -65 and -75 cbar) and two Iranian melon landraces (Zard Jalali and Suski Sabz). The results indicated that the drought levels exerted significant effects on leaf area, stem length, proline accumulation, fruit weight as well as yield. Water stress caused significant reduction in fruit weight and melon yield. The lowest leaf area (31533 mm2), stem length (258.56 cm), fruit weight (2898.1 gr) and yield (57.96 T/ha) as well as the most proline content (1.455 mg/g FW) were obtained for the case of the most sever water stress treatment (-75 cbar). Landrace did not significantly differences for the studied traits.

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