Co-Authors:
Edelstein, M., Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya’ar Research Center, P.O. Box 1021, Ramat Yishay, Israel
Cohen, R., Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya’ar Research Center, P.O. Box 1021, Ramat Yishay, Israel
Elkabetz, M., Agricultural Research Organization, Newe Ya’ar Research Center, P.O. Box 1021, Ramat Yishay, Israel
Pivonia, S., Arava Research and Development, Sapir, Israel
Maduel, A., Arava Research and Development, Sapir, Israel
Sadeh-Yarok, T., Arava Research and Development, Sapir, Israel
Ben-Hur, M., Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, P.O. Box. 6, Bet Dagan, Israel
Abstract:
Melon plants grafted on Cucurbita rootstock may suffer from nutritional deficiencies due to reduced absorption and translocation of minerals to the foliage. Melon (Cucumis melo L.) cv. 6023 was grafted onto two interspecific Cucurbita rootstocks (Cucurbita maxima 3 Cucurbita moschata) ‘TZ-148’ and ‘Gad’. Nongrafted melons were used as controls. Two fertilization field experiments were conducted in walk-in tunnels in the northern Arava valley of southern Israel. Two fertigation regimes were used: 1) standard and 2) enriched for magnesium (Mg; 150 mg·LL-1), manganese (Mn; 7.5 mg·LL-1), and zinc (Zn; 0.75 mg·LL-1) to increase the concentrations of the lacking elements. The enriched fertigation significantly increased Mn, Zn, and Mg contents in the leaf tissue. Concentrations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), iron (Fe), and boron (B) were unaffected by the enriched fertilizer. There were no deficiency symptoms in grafted plants supplied with the enriched fertilizer. © 2016, American Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.