The botanical name of Muskmelon is Cucumis melo L; it belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae
Varieties: Annamalai, Pusa Sharbati, Hara Madhu, Durgapura Madhu, Arka Rajhans and Arka Jeet.
Soil: Sandy loam rich in organic matter with good drainage and pH range from 6.5-7.5. The crop requires a moderate warm temperature.
Season and sowing: November to February. Sow the seeds @ 3.0 kg/ha after treating with Trichoderma viride 4g or Pseudomonas fluroscens 10 g or carbendazim 2g/kg of seed on one
side of the channel giving a spacing of 0.6 m between hills. Thin the seedlings after 15 days, to maintain two per hill.
Preparation of field: Plough the field to a fine tilth and form long channels at 1.5 m apart.
Irrigation: Irrigate the field before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once in a week.
Application of fertilizers: Apply FYM 20 t/ha, NPK 40:60:30 kg/ha as basal and N @ 40 kg/ha 30 days after sowing.
After cultivation: Hoe and weed thrice.
Plant protection against Pests
Beetles: Spray malathion 50 EC 1 ml/lit at weekly intervals.
Fruit fly
1. Collect the affected fruits and destroy.
2. The fly population is low in hot day conditions and it is peak in rainy season. Hence adjust the sowing time accordingly.
3. Expose the pupae by ploughing.
4. Use polythene bags, fish meal trap with 5 gm of wet fish meal and 1 g of dichlorvos in cotton, 50 traps are required per hectare. Fish meal and dichlorvos impregnated cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days respectively.
Do not use DDT, lindane 1.3% dust, copper and sulphur dust, as these are phytotoxic.
White fly: Spray neem seed kernel extract 5 %.
Yield: 20 t/ha in 120 days.
