Effect of sowing time and plant spacing on flowering and earliness of muskmelon variety Arka Siri

The present research entitled “Effect of different sowing time and plant spacing on growth, yield and quality of muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) variety Arka Siri under Southern Telangana conditions” was carried out at the PG Research Farm, College of Horticulture, SKLTSHU, Rajendranagar, during Summer-2024. The experiment was laid in Factorial Randomized Block Design with two factors i.e. Sowing time (1^st January, 15^th January, 1^st February, 15^th February) and Plant spacing (100 cm × 30 cm, 100 cm × 40 cm, 100 cm × 50 cm) with three replications. The experiment was executed with objectives to study the effect of sowing time on flowering and yield. Among the different sowing time number of male flowers per plant (130.71), early node at which first male flower appeared (2.79) early node at which first female flower appeared (7.99), minimum sex ratio (10.05) days taken for first flowering (29.23), days taken to first fruit harvest (70.46), days taken from flowering to fruit maturity (26.05) was seen in 15^th February. the maximum number of female flowers per plant (10.42) in 1^st January sowing date. Among the different plant spacing number of male flowers per plant (120.23), number of female flowers per plant (9.44), minimum sex ratio (12.77), early node at which first male and female flower appeared (2.72, 8.36) the minimum number of days taken for first flowering (36.81), days taken to fruit harvest (77.63), days taken from flowering to fruit maturity (28.66) were significantly recorded in 100 cm × 50 cm The interaction effect was found to be non-significant on both earliness and flowering parameters. Based on the results we can conclude that D₂S₃ can be recommended as it coincides with optimum temperature for flowering and yield parameters and fetch higher yield with good returns to farmers.