Effect of rootstocks on macro and micro element content of watermelon leaf

In this study, the watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum and Nakai] cultivar Crimson Tide was grafted onto one Lagenaria siceraria landrace (Birecik) and three hybrids (Skopje, Emphasis, 216 and FRGold) to investigate rootstock effect of plant nutrition uptake. Ungrafted Crimson Tide watermelon cultivar was used as the control. The plants were grown under low tunnel conditions until the outdoor temperature was suitable (22-25 oC) for watermelon growth. Plants were fertilized with 180 kg N/ha, 200 kg P2O5/ha and 180 kg K2O/ha. Micro nutrient fertilization was not applied. Total P was applied before transplanting to the field. Nitrogen and K2O were divided into three equal portions. The first portion was applied before transplanting to the field, the second 20 days after transplanting and the third 40 days after transplanting in the field. The experimental design was a completely randomized block design. Each treatment was replicated four times with 15 plants in each replicate. Plants were grown with 2.0 x 0.5 m spacing. Plants were irrigated with drip irrigation. Fully developed sixth or seventh leaves from shoot tip were sampled for plant nutrient analysis. There was no significant difference between grafted and ungrafted control plants in N and Ca concentration but K, P and Mg concentration showed significant difference based on rootstocks. All grafted plants had higher Fe concentration in leaf than control plants. Cu and Zn concentration significantly altered based on rootstock. Grafted plants had higher nitrogen use efficiency (ton yield/kg N) than control plants. Rootstocks used in this study promoted plant nutrition uptake and total yield