Effects of different colored mulches on plant growth, yield and quality in grafted and nongrafted watermelons

In this study, different colored (brown, clear, black, silver and white) mulch plastics, together with the grafted and ungrafted control watermelon cultivation were investigated on flowering time, plant growth, yield, quality and soil temperatures.The first female flower opening times for the applications of mulch and grafting had not significant effect; but, for 50 % female flowers opening the clear plastic was the earliest, while the control was ranked last. However, these differences were not reflected on the duration of harvesting.The length of the main branches of plants, the diameter of shoot, number of nodes and biomass measurements was very different for the clear, brown and black plastics. Silver had followed them and white mulch performers could move up to the control application. Grafting practices were found very important for plant developments.In terms of yield and fruit bigness, the grafting and mulch applications has been identified as very important. In grafted applications, the maximum yield was obtained from brown mulch (7.70 kg/m2), followed by clear (6.55 kg/m2), black (6.18 kg/m2), silver (5.55 kg/m2) and white (5.52 kg/m2). In ungrafted applications, the highest yield was obtained from black (6.55 kg/m2) mulch, followed by a clear (5.88 kg/m2), brown (4.67 kg/m2), silver (4.57 kg/m2) and white (2.55 kg/m2) ones. Control (2.03 kg/m2) was the last. Increase in fruit bigness; brown, clear and black mulch applications has been prominent; TSS is not affected by mulch and grafting applications.Different colored mulch application increased significantly soil temperature compared to control without mulch application.