Determination of optimum irrigation water amount for drip-irrigated muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) in plastic greenhouse

This study was conducted to determine the optimum irrigation water amounts for muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) in plastic greenhouse. The irrigation water amounts were determined based on the percentage of field water capacity. On the same basis of irrigation start-point of 60% (the percent to comparing to the field water capacity), there were four different irrigation water levels 100% (T100), 90% (T90), 80% (T80) and 70% (T70) as the four different treatments. The results showed that plant growth, fruit production and quality were significantly affected under different irrigation water amounts. Plant height and stem diameter decreased as well as fruit yield from treatment T100 to T70. Fruit quality was the best in the T90 treatment. The irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) values found in this experiment showed that the lower the amount of irrigation water applied, the higher the irrigation water use efficiency obtained.