Author(s):

M Paramasivan and N Senthil Kumar

Abstract: The present investigation was carried out at Thirumaraiyur village, Sattankulam taluk, Thoothukudi district to study the effect of organic amendments with recommended dose of fertilizers on growth and yield of watermelon and soil properties in <em>Theri</em> soil (red sand dunes) during the year 2017 and 2018. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with Factorial concept (FRBD). In all there were three factors as organic amendments with 6 treatment combinations for each factor, which were assigned at random in each plots with three replications. The recommended dose of fertilizers in treatments was two levels as 75 and 100 per cent. Among the three factors, the tank silt application @ 100 t ha^-1 with 100 per cent recommended fertilizer as 200:100:100 kg of NPK ha^-1 through fertigation at 7 days interval (T₅) produced maximum number of branches (10.7), longest vine (362 cm), number of fruits plant^-1 (2.56), weight of fruit (5.3 kg), fruit yield (68.22 t ha^-1), gross return (<img width="7" height="10" src="file:///C:/Users/SHIRAM~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" alt="Rupee_image.gif" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1">4,09,320/ha), B:C ratio (2.45), minimum fine and course sand (68.3 and 2.8%, respectively)), highest clay and silt (20.2 and 8.7%, respectively), lowest values of bulk and particle density (1.32 and 2.32 Mg m^-3, respectively), maximum soil pore space (54.3%). The soil pH (6.56), electrical conductivity (0.26 dSm^-1) and the highest organic carbon (0.66%) were registered with the application of tank silt application @ 100 t ha^-1 with 100 per cent recommended fertilizer as 200:100:100 kg of NPK ha^-1 through fertigation at 7 days interval

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