This research was carried out to evaluate the conservation of Cantaloupe melon cropped under different nitrogen and potassium levels via fertigation. The Cantaloupe melon, cultivar 'Caribbean Gold' was cultivated in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil. Fertilization constituted the treatments of N and K2O, in kg/ha: (0; 0), (0; 83), (0; 365), (0; 828), (38; 0), (38; 83), (238; 0), (238; 365), (238; 828), (666; 0), (666; 365) e (666; 828). Fruits were harvested 60 days after transplanting and after cleaning, weighing and antifungal treatment of peduncle being carried out, a sample of 12 fruits was evaluated at time zero, the remaining fruits being identified, coated in plastic bags of Life Span PEBD within cardboard boxes and stored in cooler with temperature at 5±1ºC and 90±2% RH where they remained 21, 25 and 29 days and additional three days at 20±1ºC and 85±2% RH. The evaluated fruit characteristics were external (AE) and internal appearance (AI), pulp firmness (PF) and soluble solids (SS). The experimental design was randomized blocks in split plots constituting a 3x2 factoria, plots comprising nitrogen and potassium rates applied through fertigation and the subplots corresponding to three periods of storage (21, 25 and 29 days after harvest) and two shelf life times (0 and 3 days) with two replications. The melon cultivation under different doses of N and K influenced the conservation of fruits. Regardless N and K doses and storage period, fruits maintained good external appearance when stored under refrigeration. However, when removed from the bags and placed at 20°C for three days, external appearance of fruits was severely impaired depending on the treatment (N and K2O) and the storage period. The fruit internal appearance was commercially impaired, only after 29 days of storage, when placed at 20°C for three days. At this same temperature, the pulp firmness decreased sharply in all storage periods. The fruits submitted to treatment with doses of 666 kg/ha of N and 0 kg/ha of K2O showed higher firmness than fruits treated with doses of 38 kg/ha of N and 83 kg/ha of K2O. The soluble solids content of fruits differed among treatments (N and K2O) and remained above 12%.
Cucumis melo; shelf-life; soluble solids; storage.
