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Abstract
Field-grown muskmelons (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus Ser.) and watermelons [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum and Nakai] are sensitive to nutrient stress induced by low-pH soils. Severe foliar injury observed on melons grown in low-pH soils was caused by toxic levels of Mn and/or deficient levels of Mg in the leaf tissue. Manganese toxicity symptoms in muskmelons develop as chlorotic spotting on the adaxial surface of older leaves, with water-soaked rings around necrotic spots on the abaxial surface. In watermelons, Mn toxicity develops initially on older leaves as black-brown speckling on the abaxial leaf surface. Severe vein browning develops with age. Magnesium deficiency develops first on mature muskmelon and watermelon leaves as an interveinal bronzing, followed by a necrosis and browning of the interveinal tissue. Muskmelons are more sensitive to both Mn toxicity and Mg deficiency than are watermelons.
Watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai cv. Sugar Baby, were grown in the field as a fall crop in open-top chambers (OTC) in southwestern Indiana with either charcoal-filtered (CF) or nonfiltered (NF) air. Ozone and sulfur dioxide were continuously monitored in OTC and ambient air. There was a significant decrease in marketable yield by weight (19.9%, P = 0.05), percentage of marketable fruit by number (20.8%, P = 0.10), and total yield by weight (21.5%, P = 0.05) from plants grown in the NF air treatment compared with those grown in CF air. Ozone-induced foliar injury was significantly greater on plants grown under NF conditions. Ambient concentrations of 03 in southwestern Indiana caused foliar injury (P = 0.10) and significant yield loss to a fall crop of watermelons.