THE INFLUENCE OF GRAFTING – BIOTECHNOLOGICAL LINK OF EFFICIENCY OF THE WATER MELONS PRODUCTION ON THE SANDY SOILS FROM THE SOUTHERN ROMANIA

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-12-6 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 61, 1145-1152 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/61/S25.149

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to highlight the production characters of two cultivars of watermelon planted in grafted and in non-grafted culture, starting from the premise that vegetable grafting represents the most common biotechnology for European and Asian countries, where crop rotation is no longer an option and available land is under intense use. The researches were conducted in 2016 at Research - Development Center For Field Crops On Sandy Soils Dăbuleni – Romania, under field conditions, on two cultivars of watermelon: Oltenia – indigenous variety, planted both in grafted and in non-grafted culture and Romanza F 1 – imported, planted also grafted and non-grafted. Non-grafted plants were used as control. The two studied cultivars were planted on three densities, namely: 3000 plants/ha, 4000 plants/ha and 5000 plants/ha. It was followed the number of fruits/plant, the average weight of a fruit and the obtained production that differs from a cultivar to another. The results showed that using grafting as a biotechnological technique can be an advantageous alternative in watermelon production, having in view that grafted plants improved plant growth and yield, but taking into account the planting density.

Keywords: grafting, biotechnology, watermelon, production, sandy soils