ABSTRACT - The fundamental aim of these practical is to known the effect of inorganic fertilizer at different levels of application .
CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION
Actually water melon (citrullus lanatus) a native of
southern America. It originated from a
dry area in tropical and subtropical
Africa south of the equator.
It was first grown by Egyptian, it
belong to vegetable crops and it was introduce in Europe by Moorish
invader. It have a scientific classification as follows.
Kingdom- plantae
Omisoon – magnoliophyta
Class – magnoliopsida
Order – cucurbital
Family - cucurbitaceae
Genus – citrullus
Species - citrullus lunatus
SOIL REQUIREMENT
Water melon
requires a well drained soil
wether clayed or sandy soil, the best soil are sandy soil.
The soil is typically made of parent materials, with unconsolidated
parent material within 50cm of the soil surface, poor soils
can be improved for water
melon production by organic
and inorganic fertilizer. Soil
PH affects the present of nutrient
for plant growth. A slight acid soil with PH of
5.5 is ideal for water melon, the land space of the area
is sloppy in nature and some part of the
soil can retain water for long
time and also accumulate nutrients for plant growth.
CLIMATE OF THE AREA
One of the
factors that affects agricultural production is
climate and these include humidity
temperature, rainfall, light, wind and all these concept affect the
growth of the plant. Nigerian lies on
the tropical belt and the temperature
is always high. Average monthly temperature varies between 21-35oc . If water supply is
sufficient, high temperature is favourable for plant growth and it germinate at soil
temperature of 68-750 for plant to growth the
requires sunlight.
TOPOGRAPHY
Soil formation
is affected by altitude and degree of
exposure to the elements. The
topography of the land is
slightly feather and aerated whereby
we possibility of erosion is negligible.
MATERIALS/ METHOD USED CHAPTER NO
a.
The equipment used are as follows: cutlass/matchet: it
is used to clear the vegetation
b.
Pick axe: it is used
to in disintegrating the heavy
soil
c.
Pegs/ropes: It is
used to differentiate one bed
from another . the traid are tied around
the bed.
d.
Rake: it is used
for disintegrating and breaking clod of soil after hoeing
and for gathering dug-up weeds, cut stem and roots.
e.
Paint: it is used to highlight or indicate sign post
were you wrote our registration number for proper identification.
f.
Weighing
balance: It is used to measure
the quantity of inorganic
fertilizer to applied and Wight of the pods after harvesting.
g.
Measuring tape: it is used to measure the land area and
also to know the length and width of the farm land
h.
Board - it identifies the registration
number and also serve as
scare crow to frighten prey e.g bird
i.
Watering can – it is used in watering the plant.
j.
Hoe: It
is used to cultivate and to breakdown the soil into smaller particles for easy planting
MATERIALS USED
a.
Inorganic and organic fertilizer : It is used to maximize the fertility of the
soil so as to boost the growth yield.
b.
Water: It serves as food to the soil and also
catalyse the growth and yield of
the plant.
c.
Zap chemical: It is an insecticide used in
killing insecticide that affect the water
melon
d.
Seeds: They are materials used for planting.
e.
Straw: It is used for mulching.
CHAPTER TWO
METHODOLOGY
The farm work
started on 25th February 2012
which includes site allocation, land clearing, experimental design
tillage, panting to aeration, suitable environment of its potential
advantage.
FIELD PREPARATION/ CULTURAL PRACTICES
It involve the following:
Land preparations
Land preparation involves
pulverizing of the soil
a.
To makes the soil
more suitable for seeding and
transplanting establishment
b.
To improve productivity by providing the best
soil structure for subservient root growth and development.
c.
To help in
controlling some of the disease problem
CLEARING
The vegetation
was cleared with cutlass, the
land was properly cleared packed and burnt
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
The farmland was mapped out using measuring
tape.
The experimental where laid out in
randomized complete block design (RCBD)
with 3 replication and 10m pathway between one
replication and the other
making total bed of 32 beds
and each bed have 9 stands
TILLAGE OPERATION
The bed were made manually with hand tools like hoe, pickaxe, etc. the
bed were raised at height of
2-30 above the ground level
and it is feat. The bed measures
3 x3 and 0.5 in between rows.
The furrows or in between
rows permit water to sink
and also
allow measurement during
cultural the slope to reduce
erosion if there is rainfall.
PLANTING OPERATION
On 23rd February
2012 the water melon is spread in room temperature of 300c
SELECTION OF SEEDS FOR PLANTING
Two verities of
water melon are used for planting and
they are sphere and round shape
seed of water melon and the varieties
are planted according the variety allocated to the replications.
PLANTING
The method
used in planting is dibbling method which involves using a stock to make a hole before sowing the seed and seed is planted tow seed per hole. The
distance between the stand 1m apart.
Planting was
carried out using the experimental design
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
TABLE 1 GENERAL ANOVA TABLE
ANALYSIS OF
VARIANCE (ANOVA)TABLE
Source of
variance
|
d.f
|
s.s
|
m.s
|
f.tab
|
f. Tab
|
Block
|
r-I
|
å1 x2- x2
R
rt
|
B(S.S)
B(d.f)
|
B(sm)
å(d.f)
|
B(d.f)
å(d.f)
|
Treatment
|
t-I
|
å1 x2- x2
R
rt
|
T(SS)
T(d.f)
|
T(sm)
å(m.s)
|
T(d.f)
å(d.f)
|
Error
|
(r-i)(t-I)
|
Total
SS-BSS
= TSS
|
å (ss)
å(d.f)
|
-
|
-
|
Total
|
Tr-I
|
åX1
X2
Rt
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
SPECIFIC ANOVA
TABLE FOR 6 X 3 FACTORIA EXPERIMENT IN RCBD
Source of
variance
|
d.f
|
Block
|
r-I
s-I=4
|
Treatment
|
T-I
12-1=11
|
Factor A
(fertilizer)
|
a-1
3-1=2
|
Factor B
(variety)
|
b-1
2-1=1
|
Error
|
(r-1)(t-1)
4(11)=44
|
Total
|
Tr-1
(12x3-1)=36
|
bed
|
Rep 1
|
Rep 2
|
Rep 3
|
1
|
0V1
|
0V1
|
0V1
|
2
|
30V2
|
30V2
|
30V2
|
3
|
60V1
|
60V1
|
60V1
|
4
|
90V2
|
90V2
|
90V2
|
5
|
120v1
|
120v1
|
120v1
|
6
|
150V2
|
150V2
|
150V2
|
7
|
0VI
|
0VI
|
0VI
|
8
|
30V2
|
30V2
|
30V2
|
9
|
60V1
|
60V1
|
60V1
|
10
|
90V2
|
90V2
|
90V2
|
11
|
120V1
|
120V1
|
120V1
|
12
|
150V2
|
150V2
|
150V2
|
CROP MANAGEMENT
Water
(irrigation was applied both in the
morning and evening until water drips
through the container drawn holds, uniformly
most surface soil ensure good
germination water is applied only when the
surface of the soil is dry to the touch.
As plant grows larger their water
need increases
MULCHING OPERATION
The mulching materials used area
straw which was applied on the surface
of the soil
The reasons while we mulch include
1.
To regulate soil temperature
2.
To add organic matter to the soil
3.
To prevent erosion
4.
To maintain moisture content of the soil and reduce rate of evaporation of water
from the soil
5.
To protect growth of weeds
6.
To protect the soil from overheating
WEEDING OPERATION
Weeding involves
the eradication of unwanted plant predominately weed impose big problem to
watermelon production. The beds
were cleared of used 2 weeks after planting . When the seedling are still young and again
4-5 weeks before flowering to avoid damaging
of water melon stem that are ready to fruit.
PESTICIDE APPLICATION
Insecticide should be made only when
necessary or determined suing result of
field surveys for control of
diseases, fungicides are most effective
when applied before disease begin to increase insecticide and fungicides should be selected based on proven
effectiveness inorganic fertilize used
NPK 15:15:15
HARVESTING AND HANDLING OPERATION
Water melon reaches harvest maturity 5-6 weeks after pollination –depending
upon variety and season
Indication of maturity in water
melon.
A change of tendrils nearest the
fruits from green to brown .
HOW WATER MELON IS HARVESTED
Water melon should be cut from the vine rather than pulled twisted or broken off to
reduce charged of stem decay
OBSERVATION
I observed that the temperature
of Ebonyi State is high due to the
depletion of the ozone layer which leads to
rapid drying of water after
watering
Secondly the
size of a seed is a good indication of
its optimum sowing depth. When seed is sown too deep, most of the reserves in the
endosperm will be used for germination and radical growth, leaving very little for further development.
Discussion
Water melon is farmiliar to all, since this can be very helpful for numerous adverse
instances of our wellness for
which people suffer in such instances,
water melon is really efficient and so, everybody likes this fruit to possess a positive result by consuming it.
Water melon features a big amount of
water . this can be the reason
why it is truly known as water melon the water
percentage in the fruit is
about 92%.