To evaluate the postharvest quality of melon, fertirrigated by sufarce or subsurface drip emitters, with different potassium doses and irrigation water depths, a study was carried out under greenhouse conditions, in the experimental field of Departamento de Engenharia Rural da Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz"- USP, Piracicaba, SP. Treatments were composed of the combinations of three factors: two installation dripper depths (0 and 0.2 m), three irrigation levels (1, 2/3 and 1/3 of daily evaporation, measured by a modifield pan) and four potassium doses (0; 6; 9 e 12 g K2O per plant). The experiment was conducted in randomized blocks, with three repetitions, arranged in factorial design: 2 x 3 x 4. Results showed that the dose of 9 g K(2)0 and irrigation level of 269,60 mm (2/3 evaporation) provided higher values of total soluble solid content. The pH of the melon fruit increased with potassium dosage for subsurface drip irrigation. There was increment of the total titrable acidity with increasing potassium dose until 9 g of K2O for each plant; with a slight decrease when the irrigation level for subsurface drip irrigation was increased.
fertirrigation management; dripers on line; Cucumis melo L.
