Abstract
BACKGROUND: Organic agriculture has grown rapidly in recent years due to its environmental friendliness, sustainability, and improved farm profitability. Transplants are commonly used for fruits and vegetables to achieve consistent quality, uniformity, and easy field spacing control. The efficacy and optimal amounts of fertilizers for organic transplant production need to be investigated. METHODS: The effects of three organic fertilizers (Sustane 4-6-4, Nature Safe 7-7-7, and Dramatic 2-4-1) and one conventional fertilizer Peters Professional 20-20-20 (Conventional) with four doses (nitrogen (N) content was matched among fertilizers in each level, as 0.14 g/L, 0.28 g/L, 0.56 g/L, and 0.84 g/L N, respectively) on watermelon seedlings were compared in this study. RESULTS: The results showed that all organic fertilizer treatments were not significantly different from the Conventional group in terms of watermelon germination. The only exception was the highest dose of Sustane 4-6-4 (0.84 g/L N) which decreased the germination rate and relative emergence index. Generally, growth index, shoot fresh and dry weights, true leaf number, and stem diameter increased as the amount of N increased within each fertilizer type. The best shoot growth was observed in the highest doses of Conventional and Dramatic 2-4-1 treatments (0.84 g/L N). However, Dramatic 2-4-1 treatments resulted in the lowest root growth when compared to other fertilizers at the same N dose. The second highest fertilization dose (0.56 g/L N) of Sustane 4-6-4 had the best root growth according to root fresh weight, root volume, root area, total root length, as well as the numbers of root tip and crossing when compared to other treatments. For seedlings, a well-developed root system can ensure a good seedling establishment and high survival rate under stressful field conditions after transplanting. Thus, Sustane 4-6-4 at 14 g/L (0.56 g/L N) is recommended to produce high-quality organic watermelon seedlings among the treatments applied in this study.