The purpose of this work was to evaluate the yield of fruits in hybrids of yellow melon. The experiment was carried out at the Fazenda Santa Júlia Agro Comercial Exportadora de Frutas Tropicais Ltda. The experimental design was a complete randomised block, with four replicates, in a 3 x 4 factorial scheme, with the following factors: hybrids (Gold Mine, AF 646 and XPH 13096) and plant density (10,000; 20,000; 30,000 and 40,000 plants/ha). Fruit classification, total number of fruits and total per plant, mean fruit weight and yield were evaluated. Total number of fruits and total per plant, mean fruit weight and yield were reduced with increasing plant density. The hybrids XPH 13096 and AF 646 showed the greatest reductions in the number of fruits per plant and in the mean fruit weight, 70.16 and 27.60%, respectively. The density of 30,000 plants/ha provided the greatest productivity (61.75 t/ha). The increase in the plant density produced less fruits of categories 5, 6, and 7, particularly for hybrid AF 646, while number of fruits for other categories increased. The hybrid AF 646 showed the highest total number of fruits and yield.
Cucumis melo; plant population; yield; mean fruit weight
