INFLUENCE OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING AND

ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16
INTRODUCTION

Watermelon production in the Philippines was a significant

agricultural activity. The country's tropical climate and fertile
soil were conducive to watermelon cultivation, making it a
popular fruit among local farmers. Watermelon farms were
found in various regions, with the largest production areas
including Ilocos, Central Luzon, and Mindanao. However,
growth and yield is highly dependent synthetic fertilizers
which are too expensive and non-environment friendly.
INTRODUCTION
Plant growth regulators viz., NAA, GA3 , TIBA, MH, and Ethrel
have been reported to play significant role in plant developmental
process and thus modulate plant replies (Rafeekhar et al., 2001).
Another technique in through pruning, in most of the plants the
central shoot is having the tendency to grow faster and rapidly
than the lateral ones due to apical dominance. If this rapidly growing
central stems tip could be removed then the apical dominancy can
be reduced/ removed which will encourage uniform growth of the
side branches, develop more flowers and improve yield.
Thus this study will help to explore alternative such as plant growth
regulators and pruning technology such as pinching in order to
assess the growth and yield performance of watermelon.
0BJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objectives of the study is to know the

INFLUENCE OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING AND
ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16
1.To determine the effect of apical shoot pinching and ethrel
on the growth and yield performance of watermelon.
2.To evaluate which treatment will give the best result on
the growth and yield of watermelon.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study will be determine the INFLUENCE OF APICAL

SHOOT PINCHING AND ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16. This study endeavors to
address the following problems;
1. Is there a significant difference on average no. of female
flowers of watermelon as influence by apical shoot pruning
and ethrel?
2. Is there a significant difference on average number of
male flowwers of watermelon as influence by apical shoot
pruning and ethrel?
3. Is there a significant difference on sex ratio of
watermelon as influence by apical shoot pruning and
ethrel?
4. Is there a significant difference on fruit yield of
watermelon as influence by apical shoot pruning and
ethrel?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Farmers - Understanding how apical shoot pruning and
ethrel affect watermelon growth can lead to improved crop
yields and fruit quality. Farmers can adopt practices that
optimize these factors, potentially increasing their income
and contributing to food security
Students- This study can be used as guide, and student will
learn a lot about the technical know how of pruning and
utilizing ethrel as technology in increasing watermelon
productivity.
Future researchers-This study will help future researchers
from learning how apical shoot pinching and ethrel can
improve watermelon production.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)- is a popular and refreshing fruit

known for its juicy, sweet, and often crisp flesh.
Apical Shoot pinching - is an agricultural practice that involves
the deliberate removal of certain leaves from plants, typically
crops, for various purposes.
Fruit Weight- The weight of a fruit refers to the mass or heaviness
of the fruit, typically measured in grams or kilograms. It is measure
of how much the fruit weighs.
Yield- A standard measurement of the amount of
agricultural production harvested- yield of a crop-per unit of
land area
Growth- The increasing of plant volume and/or mass with
or without formation of new structures such as organs,
tissue, cells or cell organelles.
Ethrel- Is a versatile plant growth regulator which improves
colouration and accelerates uniform ripening of fruits like
pineapple, mango, tomato, etc.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
 EFFECT OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING ON
WATERMELON
The study found that ASP at the 4 and 6th node increased
the average number of fruits/plant, average fruit weight,
yield/plant, and total yield/fad, compared to without ASP
and at the 8,10, and 12th node. This is consistent with
Nayak et al. (2018). Warren et al. (1998) found that
watermelon plants with more branches produce higher
yields, and longer vines also produce higher yields. Dittmar
et al. (2006) found a strong positive correlation between the
number of branches on the main vine and fruit number, as
well as between the number of female flowers and fruit
number. These findings support the importance of ASP in
watermelon yields.
 EFFECT OF HORMONES AND ETHREL ON
CUCURBITS
Ethrel spray at 400 ppm in four to six leaf stage significantly
increased the number of female flowers per plant (35.23%)
and reduced the sex ratio (3.69) compared to control (19.8
and 224.5 respectively) in cucumber (Vadigeri et al., 2001).
Ethrel at 100 ppm enhanced the total yield cucumber
(Thappa et al., 2011).
The present findings were in close agreement with the
findings of Thappa et al. (2011) in cucumber and
Chaurasiya et al. (2016) in muskmelon and they observed
ethrel 150 ppm proved one of the best treatments in respect
of the highest number of female flower which directly
enhanced yield.
 The present findings were in close agreement with the
findings of Thappa et al. (2011) in cucumber and
Chaurasiya et al. (2016) in muskmelon and they observed
ethrel 150 ppm proved one of the best treatments in respect
of the highest number of female flower which directly
enhanced yield. Patel et al. (2017) also reported similar
effect of PGR in bottle gourd. Ansari and Chowdhary (2018)
on effect of boron and PGR in bottle gourd and Aishwarya
et al. (2019) revealed that the application of ethrel @ 200
ppm at 2nd and 4th leaf stages resulted in earliness to first
pistillate flower appearance (34.30), delayed male flower
appearance (32.78), highest female flowers per vine
(41.40), minimum number of male flowers (253.46) and
narrow sex ratio in bitter gourd cv. VK 1 Priya
 EFFECT OF PRUNING ON DIFFERENT
CUCURBITACEOUS VEGETABLES
Shivaraj et al. (2018) conducted an experiment on
cucumber underprotected structure, observing that the
removal of flower buds up to 60cm resulted in the highest
number of fruits per plant and higher yield per vine and per
hectare. Cibal and Syamala (2017) noted that pinching the
bottle gourd vine on secondary lateral branch at the 6th
node gave superior results with respect to the number of
female flowers per plant, first male flower appearance, days
to first female appearance, node at first female appearance,
and sex ratio.
Mardhiana et al. (2017) found that pruning of 2 lateral
branches that emerged first above the third section gave
0.13% higher plant height than the plants without pruning,
and the highest number of leaves by 16.19% and fruit
diameter by 4.93% when shoot were pruned on the main
stem difference compared to compared to control. Anand et
al. (2017) observed that pruning and training on secondary
lateral at 6th node reduced growth and increased yield by
increasing the number of fruit per vine and total fruit yield
per vine.
Oga and Umekwe (2016) reported that pruning watermelon
plants produced the longest vine, higher number of leaves,
flowers, and fruits compared to unpruned ones.
Hidayatullah et al. (2013) found that pruning and keeping
main stem with three lateral branches had maximum
increase in female flower production, lowest to sex ratio,
highest number of fruits plant, and yield (increased up to
61% compared with unpruned plants).
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
TREATMENTS Floral and Yield performance

T1- Control

T2- 6th node apical shoot pinching +  Average no. female flowers
Ethrel @ 150 ppm  Average no. of male flowers
T3- 6 node apical shoot pinching +
th
 Sex ratio
Ethrel @ 150 ppm
 Fruit Yield (kgs.)
T4- 6th node apical shoot pinching +
Ethrel @ 300 ppm
T5- 6th node apical shoot pinching + Secondary Data
Ethrel @ 450 ppm  Average Temperature
 Relative Humidity
HYPOTHESIS
1.There is no significant difference on the average number of female
flowers as INFLUENCE OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING AND
ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16
2. There is no significant difference on the average number of male
flowers as INFLUENCE OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING AND
ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16
2.There is no significant difference on the sex ratio as INFLUENCE
OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING AND ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16
3.There is no significant difference on the fruit yield as INFLUENCE
OF APICAL SHOOT PINCHING AND ETHREL
ON THE FLORAL AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF
WATERMELON
(Citrullus lanatus) C.V. SWEET 16
 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
 MATERIALS

These are the materials needed: watermelon seeds (sweet

16),vermicast, urea, complete, muriate of potash, pail, rice
straw, Ethrel, pen, tagging, cellphone for photo
documentation,
Research Locale
This study will be conducted at Purok 1 New Sibonga
Kiblawan Davao del sur in month of February.
 LAND PREPARATION TO HARVEST

LAND PREPARATION
After harvesting of rice, clearing will be done by removing
excess rice straw and stalks in the area, as well as the
existing weeds, drainage (1 meter wide) will be establish
prior to seed sowing the. Individual furrow will have a
measurement of 1 meter wide and 10 meters in length w/ a
planting distance of 1.5 meters/hill with a total of 6 sample
plants per replication and 24 watermelon plants per
treatment. Also a 1 meter distance per furrow. A four (4)
meter crawling space will be allocated per furrow to give
enough space for lateral vines of the watermelon.
 Seed sowing
Prior to seed sowing basal application of vermicast w/ a
volume of 2gs per hill. Afterwards, 3 seeds will be sow w/
depth of 4cm in the soil w/ a planting distance of 1.5 m./hill.
Direct seeding will be implemented and the seeds will be
water immediately and covered w/ rice straw
Mulching
5 days after seed sowing, newly germinated seeds will be
mulch w/ rice straws .each plot will be mulch uniformly to
maintain moisture content of soil and control weeds .
 FERTILIZER APPLICATION
Dibble the 1st side dress application. Dibble 2nd side dress
at the midpoint (30 cm) between plants along the rows, or
distribute it evenly on a shallow furrow along the planting
rows. Follow this recommended schedule, and source and
amount of fertilizers:
Time of Amount of Complete- These will be mixed with
Application Fertilizer
urea. 6 cap of complete and 6 cap of
urea and dissolve it with a 12cap of
3 weeks after 1 tbsp (15g) water These will be apply 30 days after
transplanting urea/hill seed sowing.
(WAT) Potash - a volume of 6 cap of potash
and dissolve it with 6 cap of water by
6 WAT 1.3 tbsp (15 g)
muriate of
applying these fertilizer 5grams of
potash /hill or 250 dissolve potash in one pail these will
g (21.7 tbsp)/10 apply 5 days before harvest.
linear meters
 PEST & DISEASE MANAGEMENT
Gold insecticide - Target pest bugs and and cut worm.This
will be done 10 after seed germination.
Megatonic insecticide- Highly Effective against chewing,
sucking, and leaf mining insect pests due to its systemic
action; also acts as contact and stomach poison, where
target Missing. Application will be done 30days after
planting
 Irrigation
Water should be adequate throughout the vegetative
stage for better growth of the plants. When the fruits
start to develop, furrow-irrigate weekly to produce
bigger fruits. Stop irrigating when the fruits reach full
size (about 2 weeks before harvesting). Watermelon
is sweeter when it does not absorb excessive water
while ripening. Irrigate after each fertilizer
application.
 APPLICATION OF TREATMENTS
Apical shoot pinching will be done on the 6th node of the
vine per plant. Ether will be purchase on the nearest
agricultural store. This will be done by foliar application
early in the morning at 2nd and 4th true leaf stage. The
volume of application will be based on the treatments.
T1- Control
T2- 6th node apical shoot pinching + Ethrel @ 150 ppm
T3- 6th node apical shoot pinching + Ethrel @ 300 ppm
T4- 6th node apical shoot pinching + Ethrel @ 450 ppm
T5- 6th node apical shoot pinching + Ethrel @ 600 ppm
 POLLINATION

Watermelon belongs to the family of cucurbits, which

produce separate male and female flowers on the same
plant. Hence, manual pollination is very important to ensure
better fruit setting and development.
Manually pollinate the female flowers. Detach a male flower
and rub it on the female flower. Do this not later than 8:30
AM before the pollens dry up.
Female flowers bloom only within 10 days, hence be alert
when 2nd female flowers start to open.
In 30 days the flower will bloom. To attain high fruiting
percentage proper pollination strategy must be
implemented. Their will be done by intentional pollination
using manual method early in the morning between 5 to 8
am. Male flowers will be detached and will be brushed to
female flowers. Manual pollination will be done in daily
intervals until desired number of newly formed fruits
develop with a quantity of plot. Newly develop fruits will be
stake with tagging and will be recorded with the following
details.( date of pollination, fruit formation date)
 HARVESTING
Harvesting starts 56-65 DAT, depending on variety. Most of
the time, watermelons are harvested by hand when the fruit
matured (75–80 days after transplanting). The old method
of determining maturity of watermelon is by “thumping” with
a finger. A dull or hollow sound is an indication of maturity.In
general, fruit were considered mature when the tendril
nearest to fruit start to dry, and color of fruit on the bottom
side changed from creamy white to yellowish.
 DATA TO BE GATHERED
Average no. of male flowers- This will be done by
counting the total no. of male flowers in each replication
with a total no. of 3 sample plants per plot . Manual
counting will be done early in the morning where flowering
is at its highest. The frequency of sampling will be 3 times a
week during the peak of reproductive stage.
Average no. of female flowers- This will be done by
counting the total no. of new female flowers in each day.
Female flowers only open early in the morning, thus manual
counting will be set on the same schedule.
.
• Sex Female: Male Ratio- After the manual counting of
both female & male flowers, the ratio will be computed in
each replication. This will be done to determine how many
male and female flowers is present per plant.
 Yield( kg)
Harvesting will be done 60-70 days before planting. The yield in
percent of marketable watermelon fruit per treatment will be
computed based on the formula below;

Yield of watermelon(kg/ha.)=x

Marketable Yield of Watermelon=x100

 Secondary Data

Temperature and Relative Humidity

Mobile application of temperature and relative humidity
sensor will be use in this study to monitor these parameters.
This will be done on weekly bases and will be computed its
average until the termination of this study.