Crescimento de melão goldex cultivado com diferentes cores de mulch nas condições de Mossoró-RN.

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the Santa Júlia Farm, Mossoró-RN, Brazil to evaluate the effects of mulch colors and water depths on the growth of the Cantaloupe melon ‘Torreon’. The experimental design was a factorial 5 x 3 in randomized complete block with four replications. The treatments were combinations of mulch colors (yellow, brown, black, and silver polyethylene films) and bare soil with three water depths (100%, 85%, and 70% of the ETc). There was a low increased of the leaf area in the first 33 days after the sowing, intensifying with the flowering and fruiting (33 to 68 days after the sowing), and that growth was superior in the treatment with the different mulch colors in relation to bare soil. There was effect of the mulch colors and of the water depths in the absolute growth rate and in the time where this happens. The relative growth rate decreased with the time to all treatment.