Abstract

Mohammed Massri and Louay Labban

Watermelon is a very important crop because it has many nutritional and economical values. This crop has been known to human for ages and has been cultivated for centuries in many Middle Eastern countries including Syria. Several types of fertilizers are being used in order to increase the productivity of this crop but some fertilizers have shown to have adverse effect on the environment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effect of several types of organic fertilizers (cow’s, sheep, poultry and pigeon manure) and to compare their effect on growth, productivity and quality parameters with chemical fertilizers (NPK) and control group. Two local cultivars spherical and cylindrical (Audrey and Shapah) were used to examine the effect of cow’s manure (8m/Donum), Sheep manure (6 m/Donum), poultry manure (3 m/Donum) and pigeons (2 m/Donum) and were compared with chemical fertilizer ( N 20: P 40: K 25). The number of fruits on each vine, length of each vine (cm), fruit weight (kg), and estimated yield (kg/Donum) were measured and recorded as well as some quality parameters such as rind thickness (cm) and heart color. Cows manure proved to be superior to other types of fertilizers (organic and inorganic) in many traits but chemical fertilizer gave the highest yield (kg/Donum) in Audrey cultivar but in Shapah cultivar there was no significant difference in productivity between chemical fertilizer compared with control group. Using organic fertilizers to cultivate watermelon does affect quality watermelon and the productivity was too close to chemical fertilizer. On the other hand, organic fertilizer can reduce the harmful effect of chemical fertilizers on environment and human health alike.