were determined for each plot. In addition, five watermelons were
randomly selected to determine soluble solids content with a hand
held refractometer.
The gravimetric soil water content was measured for 10 cm
intervals in the 0–40 cm soil layer and for 20 cm intervals in the
40–120 cm soil layer on six soil cores randomly collected from
each plot. Soil samples were obtained from the furrows every 10
days between planting and harvesting. These soil samples were
oven-dried at 105 ◦C for 24 h. The average soil water content for
the 0–120 cm depth, from each sampling date, was used in the