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¹ Erciyes University Agriculture Faculty Horticultural Department, Kayseri
² Çukurova University Agriculture Faculty Horticultural Department, Adana DOI : 10.16882/derim.2019.443162 Viewed : 4523 - Downloaded : 1106 In this study, rootstock effects of bottle gourds on nutrient uptake and nitrogen use efficiency of watermelon were investigated. Watermelon seedlings were grafted onto Birecik, Skopje, Emphasis, 216 and FRGold. Non-grafted plants were used as control. The seedlings were transplanted and kept under plastic tunnel until climatic conditions were suitable for watermelon cultivation. Experimental area was amended with doses of 18 kg N da^-1, 20 kg P₂O5 da^-1 and 18 kg K₂O da^-1 based on soil analysis. No micro-nutrient fertilizer was applied. While total P and 1/3 of N and K were applied as base fertilizer before transplanting, the second and third portions of the N and K were applied 20 and 40 days after transplanting, respectively. The experiment planned as a completely randomized block design and repeated four times, each replication has 15 plants. The seedlings were transplanted with 200 x 50 cm spacing. Macro and micro-nutrient contents were analyzed in fully grown seventh and eighth leaves from soot tips. While N, P, K and Ca contents of the leaves did not show significant differences between graft combinations and control plants, Mg concentration was significantly affected by rootstocks. All graft combinations had higher Fe concentration in the leaf than non-grafted plants. Cu and Zn concentrations showed significant variation based on rootstock. Higher nitrogen use efficiency (ton yield kg N^-1) was recorded in all graft combinations as compared to controls. Bottle gourd rootstocks used in this study enhanced the nutrient uptake, plant growth and total fruit yield. Keywords : Citrullus lanatus; Grafting; Plant growth; Nutrient uptake; Yield