Yield and quality of watermelon fruits cultivated under different planting densities

The experiment was carried out in Petrolina, Pernambuco State, Brazil, from September to December 2007, to evaluate the agronomic performance and fruit quality of watermelon cultivated under different planting densities. Three planting spaces and six cultivars were evaluated, where two cultivars were of yellow pulp (BRS Soleil and BRS Kuarah), two cultivars were triploid (Triploid Hybrid CPATSA and Extasy Seedless) and two cultivars were commercial, of small fruits (Smile and Sugar Baby). The experimental design was a randomized block with a factorial scheme with three replications. There were evaluated two harvest moments for the Triploid Hybrid CPATSA and Extasy Seedless: 68 DAS (days after sowing) and 82 DAS. The first and second harvests of the other cultivars were carried out at 63 and 77 DAS, respectively. We evaluated the fresh weight of the aerial part (g), average fruit weight (g), commercial and non-commercial fruits yield (g), fruit diameter (cm), fruit length (cm), rind thickness (cm), total solid content (SS), titratable acidity (TA), the ratio between SS/TA and flesh firmness. The variance analyses were done by the F test and the means were compared by the Tukey test at 5%. Different spacing did not affect the fruit quality, so that higher density of plants proportioned higher yields.