Effect of GA3 on Growth, Sex Expression and Yield of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.)

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during the year summer seasons (February to May) of 2019–2021 in at Horticulture Instructional Farm, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar Gujarat (385 506), India to study the effect of GA₃ on growth, sex expression and yield of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.). Plant growth regulators in cucurbits have shown promise in improving crop growth and productivity by affecting several physiological and developmental processes. The experiment was laid out under randomized block design with three replications and eleven treatments namely T₁ (GA₃ 10 ppm), T₂ (GA₃ 20 ppm), T₃ (GA₃ 30 ppm), T₄ (GA₃ 40 ppm), T₅ (GA₃ 50 ppm), T₆ (GA₃ 60 ppm), T₇ (GA₃ 70 ppm), T₈ (GA₃ 80 ppm), T₉ (GA₃ 90 ppm), T₁₀ (GA₃ 100 ppm) and T₁₁ (Control). The variety sugar baby is tested under the experiment. The results revealed that length of the main vine (219.91 cm), number of days to first male flower (50.98), sex ratio (8.01), number of fruit vine^-1 (2.99), fruit yield vine^-1 (5.04 kg) and fruit yield ha^-1 (33.25 tone) were highest in treatment T₈ (GA₃ @ 80 ppm). Thus, foliar application of GA₃ 80 ppm twice at 2–4 leaf stages and at flowering stage found effective in enhancing the growth, sex expression and yield attributes of watermelon. These findings provide valuable insights into optimizing agricultural practices through the integration of PGRs, improving productivity and profitability, and supporting sustainable watermelon cultivation.