Performance of Cucumis Melo (Var. Cantalupensis) Growth under Controlled Environment using Rice Husk Ash Media: Effect of Different Quantity of Water Supply

Abstract

Cucumis melo is a potential crop from an economic perspective. The right amount of water supply to irrigate the Cucumis melo is crucial to get high and maximum crop yield. In this project, four different quantities of water were supplied, which include 250 ml, 500 ml, 650 ml and 750 ml. These amounts were based on the percentage of the evapotranspiration. The treatments were labeled as treatment 1 (T1), 2 (T2), 3 (T3), and 4 (T4). Six parameters were chosen to monitor the performance of the plant growth and the data were collected on a daily basis. The parameters were the height of internodes, plant total height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf width and length. The graph plotted showed that the plant growth increases and gave different patterns. Besides that, the effects of different treatments were also determined on the overall performance of plant growth through statistical analysis (ANOVA). It showed that there was a significant difference on the overall performance of Cucumis melo growth. The most optimum water requirement was assessed for the best plant growth. All six measurements were plotted based on the observation with the selected parameters and compared. Results showed that treatment 2 with 500 ml gave the best growth performance for Cucumis melo.