RESEARCH BULLETIN OF KAOHSIUNG DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT STATION
Volume 10, Number 2 June, 1999

Studies on the Production of High Quality Muskmelon in Penghu Ⅱ.The effects of planting date and leaf number above fruiting node on the growth and the quality of muskmelon under green house

Shwun-Chin Shih

Abstract

　Muskmelon is one of the important cash crops in Penghu, but reports on production of high quality fruits are limited. The main purposes of these experiments are to evaluate the suitable planting date and the leaf number above the fruiting node. A commercial variety, Andes, was used. The experimental results showed that the growth and the quality of the fruit were better for the spring crop than that of the winter crop. In winter season, due to the green house did not install a heating system, the low temperature affected the plant growth and the fruit quality including slow plant growth, small fruit size, low sugar content and inferior fruit netting, so that the fruit quality can not meet the high guality green house fruit standard. For spring crop, however, there was no such problem. Thus, for producing high quality green house muskmelon, it requires 12 to 14 leaves above the fruiting node for spring crop. For winter crop, it was found that the more the leaf number above the fruiting node, the heavier the fruit weight.

Key words：Muskmelon, Planting date, Leaf number, Growth, Quality