IMPROVING GROWTH AND PRODUCTION OF WATERMELON PLANT UNDER SALT STRESS USING GRAFTING AND SOME BIOREGULATORS

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted during the seasons of 2015-2017. Pots experiment was conducted in the experimental farm of Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams Univ. during the season of 2015 to evaluate the effect of grafting on salt tolerance of watermelon plants. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus [Thunb.] Natsum & Nakai) cv. Aswan F1 was grafted onto the rootstock of Flexifort pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima x C. moschata) and irrigated with four different concentrations of NaCl (0.0, 2000, 4000, 6000 ppm). Second experiment was conducted in the farm in Belkas, Dakahlia Governorate during the seasons of 2016 and 2017 to investigate effect of foliar applications of glycine betaine (GB) at 5, 10 mM, myo-inositol (MI) at 5, 10 mM, ascorbic acid (AA) at 50, 100 mgl-1 and sea weed extract (SWE) at 2.5, 5% on growth and productivity of grafted watermelon plants under salt stress (3008ppm) .