Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Effect of caffeine on grafted watermelon crop yields and fruit quality under greenhouse conditions 

Author(s):

Oscar Montes-Zavala, Fernando Diánez-Martínez, Francisco Camacho-Ferre*

Recieved Date: 2012-12-17, Accepted Date: 2013-04-30

Abstract:

In watermelon crops in Southeastern Spain, important thermal differences appear during the first stages of plant development that can affect the crop. This work shows the effect of applying caffeine (plant growth inducer or growth reducer and it is connected with allelopathic effects including inter- and intraspecific effects), on yield and fruit quality parameters from a crop in a greenhouse in Southeastern Spain. We assessed two treatments of caffeine, T₁ (2.25 µM), T₂ (9 µM), and a control test using an experimental design of randomized blocks with four replications. Treatment did not affect the yield variables (p>0.05) kg m^-², fruit m^-² and kg/fruit, but there were significant differences (p≤0.05) for rind thickness in the 2009 cycle. Results for soluble solids content, pH and flesh firmness did not show significant differences (p>0.05). The results showed that there is not any effect on the yield and fruit quality when applying the assessed treatments of caffeine. 

Keywords:

Alkaloid, Citrullus lanatus, 1,3,7- trimethylxanthine

---

Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2013
Volume: 11
Issue: 2
Category: Agriculture
Pages: 784-787

---

Full text for Subscribers

---

Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.

---

Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

---

Share this article :