Partition of dry matter in plants of the hybrid mini watermelon Smile® grafted and ungrafted

Abstract

The experiment was conducted under the field conditions, at the Federal University of Pelotas, Capão do Leão, RS, in order to compare the dry matter partitioning of mini watermelon Smile® grafted onto bottle-gourd and ungrafted. The plants were collected at regular intervals of seven days after transplantation until the end of the cycle. The number of leaves was determined by direct count and plant height with a tape measure, level the soil to the higher of the stem. The data of dry weight of leaf, stem and fruit, number of leaves and plant height were adjusted by means of orthogonal polynomials and the instantaneous rates of dry matter yield of leaf, stem and fruits obtained from the equations derived from the adjusted dry matter of each organ as a function of the time. The ungrafted plants obtained a better performance when compared to grafted plants, regarding the morphological atributes and partition of dry matter in their organs.