Produção e parâmetros do fruto da melancia em resposta à adubação potássica

Abstract

Potassium fertilization has been identified as a major influencer on the productivity and quality of watermelon fruits. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the production of watermelon fruits cv. Crimson Sweet under the application of different doses of potassium in top dressing using a source of potassium chloride. The experimental design used was randomized blocks, with four replications and four treatments, represented by potassium doses (60, 120, 180, 240 Kg/ha), applied in installments, starting 15 days after seedling transplantation. After harvesting, the following evaluations were carried out: number of fruits per plant, production per plot, productivity (kg/ha), fruit length (cm), fruit circumference (cm), mesocarp thickness (cm), and fruit content. soluble solids (°Brix). The data were submitted to tests of normality, homogeneity of residual variances between treatments, and analysis of variance, with comparisons between the means performed by Tukey's test (p< 0.05). It can be concluded that the analyzed variables were not influenced when potassium doses were used, except for the shell thickness variable, highlighting the dose of 240 kg of K2O.ha-1