Improvements of the Elements of Technology of Cultivation of Watermelon in the Conditions of the Lower Volga Region

Abstract

The study was aimed to establish optimal nutritional areas and sowing plans for watermelon varieties with different period of ripening. Methods. During the period of vegetation of plants, the authors performed accounts and observations by generally accepted methods. Results. The weediness of crops with a stripe-cluster sowing plan and 2.1 m inter-stripe space was 2-5 times higher than in row sowing plans with 0.7 m and 1.4 m inter-row space. Nutritional areas and sowing plans influenced the dynamics of the soil moisture that was lower in dense crops and crops with stripe-cluster sowing plan. Dense planting provided plants of morphologically quick ripening types and increased photosynthetic potential of the crop. A decrease in the nutritional area in watermelon plants led to a decrease in the overall length (by 1.5-1.9 times) and the number of sprouts (by 8.0-9.9 pcs). A general decrease in the number of sprouts in dense crops occurred due to unproductive secondary sprouts. Conclusions. The study showed that the nutritional area, optimal by the general yield and economically feasible, for quick ripening variety life Photon was 0.98 м², for mid ripening varieties like Astrakhanskiy and late ripening varieties like Russkaya berezka – 0.98-1.96 m², respectively. Sowing plans for the crop had to be 1.4х0.7 m with a nutritional area of 0.98 m² and 1.4х1.4 m with a nutritional area of 1.96 m².