Study of fertigated rockmelon production (Cucumis melo L. cv. glamour and golden champ ) under netted rain shelter using autopot and soilmix system

Rockmelon is belongs to one of Cucurbitaceae family. It is widely cultivated for commercialization. Two different rockmelon cultivars (Cucumis melo L. cv. Golden Champ and cv. Glamour) were selected to be studied in two different treatments which are soilmix system and autopot system under netted rain shelter. Autopot is an automatic system in which watering and feeding according demand by gravity while soilmix system is a system that use drip irrigation that distribute water and nutrients direct to the root zone of plant. Planting under netted rain shelter is better as it is an efficient way to get high production and best performance of plant growth and fruit production. Growth parameter such as plant height, stem girth, number of leaves, number of plant suckers and yield parameter such as fruit girth, fruit weight, and brix level of fruit were evaluated. The percentage of success pollination in female flowers was also evaluated. As a conclusion, rockmelon cv. Golden Champ in soilmix system has higher growth performance compared to rockmelon cv. Golden Champ in autopot system. Meanwhile, rockmelon cv. Glamour almost has same growth performance when planted in soilmix system and autopot system. All rockmelon cultivars tested have been successfully grown in soilmix system and autopot system.