Effects of Different Tillage Methods on the Soil Bulk Density and Growth Parameters of Watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus)

Research was conducted to determine the effects of different tillage methods on the soil bulk density and growth parameters of Watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus). The study was carried out at the Vegetable Research Farm, The Oke – Ogun Polytechnic, Saki; with treatments at three levels of tillage (T0- zero tillage, T1- one pass of moldboard plow and T2- two passes of moldboard plow); all treatments replicated three times and arranged in three blocks in a Completely Randomized Block Design (CRBD). Each plot was (1.2 m x 1.2 m) with 1 m and 1.5 m gap between the plots and blocks. Tillage methods affected the soil bulk density and watermelon growth parameters as shown that one pass of moldboard plow (1.3 gm/cm 3) had the greatest mean vine length, stem girth and number of leaves (5.3 cm, 3.1 cm and 13) respectively. Paired t- minitab 17.0 showed that the zero tillage (1.6gm/cm 3) and one pass of moldboard plow (1.3 gm/cm 3) bulk densities are significantly (p ≤ 0.05) different, while two passes of moldboard plow (1.5 gm/cm 3) and one pass of moldboard plow (1.3 gm/cm 3) are statistically (p ≤ 0.05) the same. The summary of analysis of variance of effects of tillage methods on the watermelon growth parameters, revealed that blocks had no significant (p ≤ 0.05) effects on all the growth parameters, while tillage had significant (p ≤ 0.05) effects on the mean vine length, stem girth and leaf area. Least significant (p ≤ 0.05) different therefore, revealed that one pass of moldboard plow (1.3 gm/cm 3) significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the vine length and stem girth than other tillage methods. The study concluded that for a one pass of moldboard plow (1.3 gm/cm 3) at 11.5 % moisture content; the growth of watermelon could be enhanced on sandy clay soil, in the derived savannah of Southwest zone of Nigeria. Keywords: Moisture content; plow; Cucurbitacea; Vegetable; Derived savanna