Effect of fertigation system under rain-shelter on sun melon growth

Fertigation is now the accepted method of applying most of the crops nutrition, with many sun melon growers using liquid soluble fertilizer rather than spreading granular fertilizer and waiting for the rain or sprinklers to wash the fertilizer into the root zone. Fertigation allows precise timing and uniform distribution of applied nutrients to meet the crop nutrient demand with ensure substantial saving in fertilizer usage. Proper management requires the knowledge of fertigation rate and nutrient uptake by the crop to ensure maximum of crop productivity. In this study, the effect of fertilization methods including the fertigation inside netted house; non-fertigation inside netted house, fertigation outside netted house as well as non-fertigation outside netted house toward sun melon were evaluated. Growth parameters data such as the height of plant, circumference of stem and the number of leaves per plant were collected. The treatment of fertigation inside netted house was found significantly better in term of growth parameters as well as flowering initiation. It showed that, the practise of fertigation using netted house gives high impact on plant growth and hopefully the fruits production.