seedless watermelon variety trial results
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
SEEDLESS WATERMELON VARIETY TRIAL RESULTS 2005 Ed Kee and Emmalea Ernest _________ University of Delaware Research and Education Center 16684 County Seat Highway Georgetown, DE 19947
2005 University of Delaware Seedless Watermelon Variety Trial Ed Kee and Emmalea Ernest University of Delaware Research and Education Center 16684 County Seat Highway Georgetown, DE 19947 (302) 856-7303 [email protected] [email protected] The 2005 Seedless Watermelon Variety Trial included 35 varieties from seven participating companies. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate seedless watermelon varieties for yield, quality and maturity. Location: Field 2B at the University of Delaware Research and Education Center Farm, Georgetown, DE. Cultural Practices: Rye was planted for rye strips in the fall of 2004. To encourage good growth of the rye, 30% UAN at 12.5 gal./A was applied on March 7, 2005. Potassium was applied on March 13, 2005, according to soil test recommendations. An additional application of 30% UAN was made on May 10, 2005 at a rate of 30 gal/A. On May 12, 2005, the beds were shaped and black plastic mulch and trickle irrigation were laid on 8’ centers. There were 35 entries in the trial this year. Plants were seeded in the greenhouse on April 27, 2005 and transplanted to the field on May 31, 2005. An insufficient number of Tri-X Palomar seeds germinated, so this variety was not planted in the field trial. Field plots were one row (8 ft) wide and 30 ft. long. Plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. In-row spacing was 3’ or 10 plants per plot except for the personal melons (Vanessa, Bobbie, Extazy, Solitare) which were planted with a 2’ in-row spacing (15 per plot). Every third plot was planted in the pollenizer variety, Jamboree. An application of Gramoxone Extra 1.5 pt/A + Sandea 0.75 oz/A + Sinbar 4 oz/A + Dual II Magnum 1.5 pt/A + Surfactant 80-20 NIS 0.5 qt/A was made with a hooded sprayer on June 16, 2005, just before the plants ran off of the plastic. The remainder of the nitrogen was applied through the drip system – an application of 50 lbs/A was made on July 12, 2005 and an additional application of 50 lbs/A was made on July 26. Vydate L at 64 oz/A was applied through the drip system on June 13, 2004 to control cucumber beetles and melon aphids. Chlorothalonil and Quadris were alternated for disease control throughout the season and applications were made weekly. Harvest: Melons were harvested as they would be harvested commercially on 8-1-05, 8-5-05, 8-12-05, 819-05, and 8-26-05. The weight of each watermelon harvested was recorded individually. On 8-1-05, 8-5-05 and 8-12-05 a sample of three melons per plot were cut, and soluble solids were measured using a hand-held refractometer. Sample sizes for the soluble solids measurements ranged from 10 to 26 melons.
1
Results: Yields of each variety in lbs/A and melons/A, as well as yield in lbs/A for each of the four weeks of harvest are reported in Table 1. Table 2 lists the varieties according to average melon weight and gives percentage of melons in each of five weight classes: 21 lbs. Table 3 lists the personal melons according to average melon weight and gives percentage of melons in each of three weight classes: < 3lbs, 3-6 lbs, 6-8lbs, and >8 lbs. Table 4 reports the cumulative percent of total harvest for the first three weeks of harvest and gives a clearer picture of the maturity of each variety. Very early varieties, such as Imagination, were 80% harvested by the second week of harvest, whereas later varieties, such as Revolution and HMX 9917, were less than 40% harvested on the second week of harvest. The yields of the variety Constitution were very even across the four weeks of harvest. Table 5 lists the varieties according to their soluble solid measurements. There were significant differences in soluble solids among the varieties. Because the sample sizes were not equal, significant differences among the varieties are reported in Table 6. Photographs of the varieties included in the trial are in Appendix A. Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of James Adkins, and our student summer workers, Daniel Dickerson, Cody Pepper, and Cory Adkins for their assistance throughout the trial, and especially during harvest. We also thank Vic Green and the REC Farm Crew.
2
Table 1. 2005 Seedless Watermelon Variety Trial: Varieties by Yield Variety ACX 601TSHQ Sweet Delight Sweet Eat'n Sugarheart Afternoon Delight Yellow Bird HMX 9917 Crimson Jewel Boston Super Seedless 7167 Imagination Gypsy Liberty TRI-X 313 Butterball RWT 8166 Summertime TRI-X Carousel Crisp N Sweet Extazy** Vanessa** XWT 8706 Millionaire Super Seedless 7187 Summer Sweet 5244 Constitution HMX 8913 Promise Bobbie** RWT 8181 Revolution RWT 8145 RWT 8129 Solitare** LSD0.05 p-value
Lbs/A 85828 83664 78045 76873 76297 75782 75174 74989 74208 72041 70462 69843 69544 66233 65961 65710 65708 65525 62726 60534 59572 59260 59035 58225 56998 56635 53455 53294 47440 46306 45996 41852 39150 37641
Yields in Lbs/A* Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 22512 32540 24871 22001 26623 28764 22137 24892 24567 13567 24512 29384 12502 27177 25463 19136 28741 21004 7206 19127 41968 22264 18643 29115 12366 19230 40224 14475 22795 28894 37634 19012 7832 18580 27443 16811 13921 28211 13614 12962 16768 29194 9338 37035 16100 19487 21121 18791 10860 20029 21559 4084 36261 19336 10013 29088 16933 14759 14202 25490 34673 11903 8583 18655 16870 12073 9756 23256 21723 9598 26493 17393 11767 14375 26977 14680 18867 9218 8307 14626 23272 6815 21958 22303 5478 15391 25863 1903 26768 11294 10379 7463 16924 3231 19681 13749 8742 17421 6177 13746 10769 7595
24708 0.0065
Week 4 5906 6276 6448 9411 11155 6901 6873 4966 2389 5878 5982 7012 13798 7310 3487 6311 13260 5846 6693 6083 4413 11662 4299 4741 3880 13869 7250 2218 709 6343 11230 5191 6810 5531
Yield in Melons/A* 4961 4598 4356 4417 4235 4719 3933 4719 4840 4054 5748 4417 3691 3570 4356 3630 3751 3630 3267 6776 6534 3146 3207 3086 3086 3328 3207 3207 4961 2662 2178 2118 2239 3872
Seed Source Abbott & Cobb Syngenta d. palmer Siegers d. palmer d. palmer Harris Moran Sakata Nunhems Abbott & Cobb Syngenta Harris Moran Nunhems Syngenta d. palmer Syngenta d. palmer Syngenta Siegers
Sakata Harris Moran Abbott & Cobb Abbott & Cobb Nunhems Harris Moran d. palmer Syngenta Nunhems Syngenta Syngenta
1736
SEEDLESS WATERMELON VARIETY TRIAL RESULTS 2005 Ed Kee and Emmalea Ernest _________ University of Delaware Research and Education Center 16684 County Seat Highway Georgetown, DE 19947
2005 University of Delaware Seedless Watermelon Variety Trial Ed Kee and Emmalea Ernest University of Delaware Research and Education Center 16684 County Seat Highway Georgetown, DE 19947 (302) 856-7303 [email protected] [email protected] The 2005 Seedless Watermelon Variety Trial included 35 varieties from seven participating companies. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate seedless watermelon varieties for yield, quality and maturity. Location: Field 2B at the University of Delaware Research and Education Center Farm, Georgetown, DE. Cultural Practices: Rye was planted for rye strips in the fall of 2004. To encourage good growth of the rye, 30% UAN at 12.5 gal./A was applied on March 7, 2005. Potassium was applied on March 13, 2005, according to soil test recommendations. An additional application of 30% UAN was made on May 10, 2005 at a rate of 30 gal/A. On May 12, 2005, the beds were shaped and black plastic mulch and trickle irrigation were laid on 8’ centers. There were 35 entries in the trial this year. Plants were seeded in the greenhouse on April 27, 2005 and transplanted to the field on May 31, 2005. An insufficient number of Tri-X Palomar seeds germinated, so this variety was not planted in the field trial. Field plots were one row (8 ft) wide and 30 ft. long. Plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. In-row spacing was 3’ or 10 plants per plot except for the personal melons (Vanessa, Bobbie, Extazy, Solitare) which were planted with a 2’ in-row spacing (15 per plot). Every third plot was planted in the pollenizer variety, Jamboree. An application of Gramoxone Extra 1.5 pt/A + Sandea 0.75 oz/A + Sinbar 4 oz/A + Dual II Magnum 1.5 pt/A + Surfactant 80-20 NIS 0.5 qt/A was made with a hooded sprayer on June 16, 2005, just before the plants ran off of the plastic. The remainder of the nitrogen was applied through the drip system – an application of 50 lbs/A was made on July 12, 2005 and an additional application of 50 lbs/A was made on July 26. Vydate L at 64 oz/A was applied through the drip system on June 13, 2004 to control cucumber beetles and melon aphids. Chlorothalonil and Quadris were alternated for disease control throughout the season and applications were made weekly. Harvest: Melons were harvested as they would be harvested commercially on 8-1-05, 8-5-05, 8-12-05, 819-05, and 8-26-05. The weight of each watermelon harvested was recorded individually. On 8-1-05, 8-5-05 and 8-12-05 a sample of three melons per plot were cut, and soluble solids were measured using a hand-held refractometer. Sample sizes for the soluble solids measurements ranged from 10 to 26 melons.
1
Results: Yields of each variety in lbs/A and melons/A, as well as yield in lbs/A for each of the four weeks of harvest are reported in Table 1. Table 2 lists the varieties according to average melon weight and gives percentage of melons in each of five weight classes: 21 lbs. Table 3 lists the personal melons according to average melon weight and gives percentage of melons in each of three weight classes: < 3lbs, 3-6 lbs, 6-8lbs, and >8 lbs. Table 4 reports the cumulative percent of total harvest for the first three weeks of harvest and gives a clearer picture of the maturity of each variety. Very early varieties, such as Imagination, were 80% harvested by the second week of harvest, whereas later varieties, such as Revolution and HMX 9917, were less than 40% harvested on the second week of harvest. The yields of the variety Constitution were very even across the four weeks of harvest. Table 5 lists the varieties according to their soluble solid measurements. There were significant differences in soluble solids among the varieties. Because the sample sizes were not equal, significant differences among the varieties are reported in Table 6. Photographs of the varieties included in the trial are in Appendix A. Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of James Adkins, and our student summer workers, Daniel Dickerson, Cody Pepper, and Cory Adkins for their assistance throughout the trial, and especially during harvest. We also thank Vic Green and the REC Farm Crew.
2
Table 1. 2005 Seedless Watermelon Variety Trial: Varieties by Yield Variety ACX 601TSHQ Sweet Delight Sweet Eat'n Sugarheart Afternoon Delight Yellow Bird HMX 9917 Crimson Jewel Boston Super Seedless 7167 Imagination Gypsy Liberty TRI-X 313 Butterball RWT 8166 Summertime TRI-X Carousel Crisp N Sweet Extazy** Vanessa** XWT 8706 Millionaire Super Seedless 7187 Summer Sweet 5244 Constitution HMX 8913 Promise Bobbie** RWT 8181 Revolution RWT 8145 RWT 8129 Solitare** LSD0.05 p-value
Lbs/A 85828 83664 78045 76873 76297 75782 75174 74989 74208 72041 70462 69843 69544 66233 65961 65710 65708 65525 62726 60534 59572 59260 59035 58225 56998 56635 53455 53294 47440 46306 45996 41852 39150 37641
Yields in Lbs/A* Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 22512 32540 24871 22001 26623 28764 22137 24892 24567 13567 24512 29384 12502 27177 25463 19136 28741 21004 7206 19127 41968 22264 18643 29115 12366 19230 40224 14475 22795 28894 37634 19012 7832 18580 27443 16811 13921 28211 13614 12962 16768 29194 9338 37035 16100 19487 21121 18791 10860 20029 21559 4084 36261 19336 10013 29088 16933 14759 14202 25490 34673 11903 8583 18655 16870 12073 9756 23256 21723 9598 26493 17393 11767 14375 26977 14680 18867 9218 8307 14626 23272 6815 21958 22303 5478 15391 25863 1903 26768 11294 10379 7463 16924 3231 19681 13749 8742 17421 6177 13746 10769 7595
24708 0.0065
Week 4 5906 6276 6448 9411 11155 6901 6873 4966 2389 5878 5982 7012 13798 7310 3487 6311 13260 5846 6693 6083 4413 11662 4299 4741 3880 13869 7250 2218 709 6343 11230 5191 6810 5531
Yield in Melons/A* 4961 4598 4356 4417 4235 4719 3933 4719 4840 4054 5748 4417 3691 3570 4356 3630 3751 3630 3267 6776 6534 3146 3207 3086 3086 3328 3207 3207 4961 2662 2178 2118 2239 3872
Seed Source Abbott & Cobb Syngenta d. palmer Siegers d. palmer d. palmer Harris Moran Sakata Nunhems Abbott & Cobb Syngenta Harris Moran Nunhems Syngenta d. palmer Syngenta d. palmer Syngenta Siegers
Sakata Harris Moran Abbott & Cobb Abbott & Cobb Nunhems Harris Moran d. palmer Syngenta Nunhems Syngenta Syngenta
1736
