Watermelon cultivation in regeneration areas of a sugarcane field under different soil managements

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) cultivation in regeneration areas of a sugarcane field, under different soil management systems and N fertilization regimes. Two experiments were carried out in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 harvest seasons, in areas of sugarcane plantation in Andradina, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Cultivations were performed in a randomized complete block design, with plots and subplots, and four replicates. The plots represented the tillage systems (conventional, minimum tillage, and no-tillage), and the subplots, the different N fertilization rates (0, 100, 200, and 300 kg ha^-1) applied as topdressing. In 2014/2015, the minimum tillage system resulted in the highest commercial yield of 70.2 Mg ha^-1. In 2015/2016, there were no differences for yield among tillage systems; however, yield differed among N treatments. The highest commercial yields of 64.1 and 31.1 Mg ha^-1 were achieved with the N doses of 253 and 209 kg ha^-1 as topdressing, respectively, in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. Watermelon can be cultivated in regeneration areas of sugarcane field, and the demand of N by the plant does not depend on the soil tillage system.