Earlier harvest and productivity of melon under ethephon solutions

Abstract

This experiment was carried out with the objective to evaluate the ethephon effect on melon precocious harvest. A field trial was conducted at Flamengo farm, in Mossoró-RN, Brazil. The experimental design was the completely randomized blocks, with five replications. The traits were: different etephon solutions pH levels (7.0; 9.0 and 11.0) and the control. Three applications were given, one for each three days period. The Ethrel concentration used was 0.2 ml.L-1. The evaluated characteristics were: average number of fruits, average weight of fruits and total yield. Ethephon application, independent of the solution pH levels, provided high melon fruits number and productivity, but didn’t affect the fruit weight.