Nutrient accumulation on seedless watermelon

Abstract

The growth and nutrient accumulation, respectively represented by the dry mass accumulation and the nutrient absorption rate, offer essential information on plant nutrition and fertilization studies. With the aim of define the dry mass accumulation and the nutrient absorption rate for the seedless watermelon hybrid Master, an experiment was developed at Experimental Farm “Rafael Fernandes”, which belongs to University Federal Rural do Semi-     -Árido,  Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with seven treatments, constituted by the evaluation times: 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49 days after transplantation (DAT), and four replications. The growth of the Master seedless watermelon plant was slow up to 21 DAT. The estimated dry mass accumulation at the end of the cycle was 361.11 g plant^-1, from this total, the leaves and stem were respon­sible for 45.3%, and the fruits for 54.7%.  The greatest nutrient demands occurred between 35 and 49 DAT, following this order of magnitude: K>N>Ca>Mg>P>Fe>Zn>Mn>B>Cu.