Are the Yield and Commercial Quality of Grafted Muskmelon Plants Affected by the Pruning?

Muskmelon (<i>Cucumis melo</i> L.) is an important vegetable crop in Colima State. Soil-borne diseases may cause a decrease in cultivated area of this important crop. There are different ways to prevent this problem such as crop rotation and soil fumigation; however these management practices have some disadvantages. Grafting is an important technique for vegetable production and has become a common practice in Western Mexico. In this study, the influence of several pruning intensities in grafted muskmelon plants and their effect on plants growth, fruit quality and yield were evaluated. Vegetable material was Magenta variety melon plants grafted on Shintosa camel force pumpkin. The experiment was carried out in the commercial ranch “Las Carmelitas”, in the State of Colima, 19¢ª 09’ 04.3’’ N L and 103¢ª 32’ 13.90’’ W L, and 541 above sea level. Soil texture is sandy soil, pH = 4.4. Four treatments were evaluated: Plant with No-pruning (T1), Plant with pruning on main shoot (T2), Plants with pruning on main and secondary shoots (T3), and plants with pruning on secondary shoots. Plants were growth under tunnel with transparent plastic, and were daily irrigated, according to phenological step. Pruning was done when plant had 5 true flowers, 15 days after transplant. Drip irrigation was applied and plants were fertilized according to producers (150-100-180), three steps: 1) at the time of planting, 2) at the beginning of plants guide, 3) at the flowering beginning. When plants were harvested, the variables measured were: fruit number per plot, fruit size, commercial quality (¢ªBrix content), three fruits per plot were selected randomly. Treatments were distributed in randomized complete blocks by four replicates. Results shown that plants with pruning on main shoots had not significantly affected on yield, compared with test, but respecting to treatments T3 and T4 significance was detected on yield. Respecting to size fruit, 9 was predominant. T1 and T4 treatments had the highest yield. Pruning had no effect on ¢ªBrix content in melon fruit.