A field experiment was conducted on melon (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus Naud, cv. Rodin hybrid) grown in a sandy loam soil during the two successive seasons of 2015 and 2016 in a private farm at EL-Sadat City, Minofia Governorate, Egypt to assess the response to foliar spray with four treatments i.e., distilled water (DW), yeast extract (YE), Lithovit® (micronized calcium carbonate) (LV) and Delfan® (amino acids) (DF), and two treatments of nitrogen application i.e., N1: 50% of the recommended N as mineral-N + 50% of the recommended N as organic manure (compost), and N2: 100% of the recommended rate as mineral-N. The recommended rate of N is 170 kg N ha-1. Lithovit gave the highest increase in plant length, leaf area, weight of shoots per plant, total chlorophyll, fruit diameter, fruit weight, fresh yield, nutrient uptake, total sugar, and total soluble solids. For some plant traits (fruit diameter, fruit weight, fresh yield, nutrient uptake, total sugar and total soluble solids) YE gave the second highest increase. N1 treatment was superior to N2 in nearly all traits. Spraying with both LV or YE gave the highest fresh yield and the best fruit quality. The highest values were obtained when LV was sprayed either with 50% mineral-N + 50% organic-N or 100% mineral-N, or when YE was sprayed with 50% mineral-N + 50% organic-N. These increases for the above mentioned treatments reached 28.78, 27.27 and 26.30% as an average in both seasons for total yield, as compared with plants supplied with 170 kg mineral-N and sprayed with the distilled water (control) |
