effect of plant density and branch pruning on growth, yield and fruit quality of two greenhouse muskmelon (cucumis melo l.) cultivars

abstract in order to study the effect of planting density and branch pruning on growth, yield and quality of greenhouse muskmelon, a study has been conducted using a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications and three factors, including cultivar (galia-52 and mirella), branch pruning (1 and 2 branch per plant), and plant density (2, 2.4, 2.8 and 3.6 plants per square meter). results showed that for both cultivars, the number of fruits per plant were more in two branched plants. generally fruits of galia-52 had better quality than mirella. two branched plants had more fruit number per plant (3.15), yield (12.74 kg/m2), yield per plant (4.79 kg/p), and internode length. by increasing plant density, yield, plant height and internode length increased, but number of nodes, fruits per plant, single plant yield and single fruit weight decreased. finally two branch pruning combined with 3.6 p/m2 density was the best treatment for both cultivars by producing high yield (11.6 kg/m2) and without negative effects on fruit sizeandquality.