Abstract

The investigation carried out on musk melon revealed that pre treatment of seeds with Cobalt Nitrate at I ppm showed significant influence on vegetative, flowering and yield characters. Seed treatment with 100 ppm Penshibao had significant influence in delaying the emergence of male flower at higher nodes Whereas foliar application of Penshibao at the same concentration had significant influence only on yield characters. The foliar application of Fantac (500 ppm) showed significant influence on leaf area, fruit set per cent and fruit weight. Plants raised from seeds treated in Cobalt Nitrate 1.0 ppm and received three applications of Fantac (500 ppm) gave the highest yield per vine (3.47 kg). This increase in yield was attributed to more leaf area, advancement of female flowering, increased pistillate flower production, narrow sex ratio, increased fruit set per cent, bigger sized fruits and fruit weight.

Keywords: Musk melon, Cobalt nitrate, pre treatment of seeds, Fantac, Penshibao, 2 Chloro Ethyl Phosphonic Acid (CEPA).