Growing Watermelon in High-Altitude Trans-Himalayan Ladakh

The feasibility of growing watermelon, a warm season crop, was studied under a low-input cultivation system in open field condition in the high-altitude (elevation 3344 m) trans-Himalayan Ladakh region. The mean marketable yield of five cultivars in different treatments varied from 13.0 ± 2.7 to 30.4 ± 5.3 and 11.8 ± 2.9 to 27.4 ± 4.0 t ha−1 in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Treatment of black polyethylene mulch (BPM) increased marketable yield by 23.3% to 59.2% depending on year and cultivar. The best-performing cultivar (Bejo-2000) under BPM yielded 28.9 t ha−1 marketable fruit, which suggested that watermelon can successfully be grown in open field condition in the trans-Himalaya. Harvest began on 18 August 2014 and 26 August 2015. Average marketable fruit weight ranged from 2.9 to 5.3 kg, and TSS ranged from 9.3 to 11.3°Brix depending on cultivar. Temperature 10 cm beneath the BPM was 2.8 ± 0.3 °C higher than in nonmulched soil. BPM reduced 73% weed and saved 77% time in manual weeding.