Watermelon occupies a prominent position among the major vegetables produced and consumed in Brazil. Moreover, in horticulture, the seedling production in protected environments is the most used methodology. The objective of this work was to evaluate performance of "Crimson Sweet" and "Fairfax"watermelon cultivars in the production of seedlings in protected environment and of fruits in field conditions in the Brazilan Cerrado region, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. In the seedlings phase, the experiment was conducted in three protected environments. Each environment was regarded an experiment conducted in completely randomized design with six replicates. After that, a joint analysis was carried out. In the field, the experimental design used was the randomized block with four replicates. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and, the means, to the Tukey's test. The best seedlings grew in the plastic greenhouse. The "Fairfax" cultivar showed higher quality seedlings. In the field, the cultivars showed fruits with similar diameter and biomass.
Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai; cultivars; protected cultivation
