Evaluation of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Genotypes for Growth, Yield and Quality

The present investigation was conducted at Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, during 2020-2021 to study the performance of watermelon genotypes for growth, yield and quality. Thirteen genotypes were evaluated with three replications in randomized block design. Significant variation was recorded among the genotypes for all the vegetative, flowering, yield and quality characters. Among the genotypes used, CL11 had the longest vine length, CL3 was the earliest to produce male flower (29.90 d) and CL3 was the earliest with 35.80 d for first female flower anthesis. CL8 exhibited the highest fruit equatorial diameter (24.05 cm) and CL10 recorded highest fruit polar diameter. The highest fruit weight was observed in CL7 (4.76 kg). The genotype CL3 produced the highest yield (9.82 kg) and number of fruits per plant. The lowest number of seeds was observed in CL3 (219.50). The highest TSS content was observed in CL3. Based on the performance, genotypes CL3, CL6, CL2 and CL1 were noted as good performers for yield and quality parameters.