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Vol. 5, No. 1; 2021 

ISSN 2641-4155   E-ISSN 2641-418X 

Published by American Center of Science and Education, USA 

 

 16  

HYDROPONICS SYSTEM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO SOIL 

FARMING OF WATERMELON IN NIGERIA 

 

 
Ossai, C. O. (Corresponding Author) 

Research Supervisor 

 YIIFSWA Project, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria  

E-mail: c.ossai@cgiar.org   

 

Ojobor, S. A. 

Senior Lecturer 

Department of Agronomy, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria  

E-mail: smartojobor@gmail.com 

 

Akpeji, S. C. 

Graduate Student 

 Microbiology Department, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria  

E-mail: akpejistephanie@gmail.com 

 

Oroghe, O. E. 

Graduate Student 

  Crop Protection and Environmental Biology Department, University of Ibadan, Nigeria 

E-mail: elohooroghe@gmail.com 

 

Ogbole, S. 

Graduate Student 

 Biochemistry Department, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria  

E-mail: ogbolesamson@gmail.com 

 

 

Received: July 15, 2021      Accepted: August 29, 2021     Online Published: September 08, 2021  

 

DOI: 10.46545/aijas.v5i1.200                                   URL: https://doi.org/10.46545/aijas.v5i1.200 

 

 

ABSTRACT 

Watermelon is an important vegetable consumed worldwide. It is mostly grown in a sandy loam 

soil with a pH value ranging from 6.5 to 7.5. However, due to the constraints in land 

accessibility coupled to the farmers-herders clashes for limited land resources in Nigeria, it is 

important to shift the focus from land extensification to intensification farming. This study 

therefore compares the potential of hydroponics system of cultivating watermelon relative to 

conventional soil farming system. Three varieties of water melon (Diamond black, Crimson 

sweet and Travelers watermelon varieties) were planted in 2 substrate conditions (soil and 

cocopeat) 4 kg each. It was a 3x2 factorial experiment arranged in a completely randomized 

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design with 3 replicates. Data were collected on the agronomic and yield parameters, and 

analysed using ANOVA, and means were separated using LSD at 5% level of significance. 

Results obtained showed varied agronomic performances among the genotypes, while the 

Crimson sweet watermelon produced significantly heavier fruit size (5.38±0.34) compared to the 

rest genotype. However, the highest number of fruits (2.33±0.22) was obtained in the soil, but the 

substrate type was insignificant in the average fruit weight. Hence, the hydroponics system is 

recommended as a complementary alternative to soil farming. 

 

Keywords: Watermelon, Cocopeat, Soil, Substrates; Agronomic Performance, Yield 

Performance. 

 

JEL Classification Codes: Q11. 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Fruits like watermelon is a good source of natural essential elements which are consumed by 

man to nourish the body and act as a preventive mechanism against several diseases by building 

the immune system (Reetu & Maharishi, 2017). Most bye-products of these fruits are also used 

in the pharmaceutical companies for the production of supplements (Naz et al., 2013). However, 

not only are these fruits useful in drug production, but they can be consumed fresh by humans, 

thereby making these essential elements also available to humans. 

The pressure on watermelon supply calls for an increased production to meet the 

consumer needs, and this makes it important to consider a good edaphic and climatic conditions 

to boost its productivity. Watermelon is reportedly grown in a sandy loam soil with a pH value 

ranging from 6.5 to 7.5 (Kumar et al., 2013). However, due to the constraints in land 

accessibility coupled to the farmers-herders clashes for limited land resources, it is important to 

shift the focus from extensification (cultivating large expanse of land) to intensification (the use 

of small land area with more inputs) to boost watermelon production (Peter, 2018). 

However, for the sustainability of the production in a vertical farming system (soilless 

farming), it is important to exploit different varieties of watermelon in order to establish their 

stability for production in Nigeria greenhouses by comparing their productivity with the soil 

system. Thus the purpose of setting up this study. 

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS 

Three varieties of watermelon (Diamond black, Crimson sweet and Travelers watermelon 

varieties) were sourced from the Soilless Farmlab, Abeokuta, Nigeria. The seeds were sown 

directly into a 4 kg trough (one part containing buffered and dissolved cocopeat and the second 

part contained loamy soil) (4 seeds per trough). 250 g of poultry manure were applied to the 4kg 

trough and kept in a screen house were there were been watered thrice a week till harvest and 

were twined with thread and stick to avoid intertwining. The experiment was a 2 (substrates) by 

3 (varieties) factorial arranged in a completely randomized design with three replicates. The 

agronomic data were taken on the plants include the plant height, number leaves and leave area, 

days to 50% flowering, days to fruiting, number of fruits produced and the fruit weight were also 

taken. Data collected were analysed using ANOVA (SAS 9.0 version) and differences in the 

treatment means were separated using Least Significant Differences (LSD) at 5% level of 

significance. 

 



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RESULTS 

Results obtained showed that at 2 weeks after planting (2WAP), the plant height and number of 

leaves produced by the genotypes were insignificant. However, the leaf area of the BD genotype 

(10.33±0.57) was significantly higher than the CS (5.50±0.26) and TSO (5.45±0.26) genotypes 

(Table 1). At 4 WAP, the number of leaves produced by CS (8.00±0.36) was significantly higher 

than the rest genotypes, whereas the leaf area of the BD genotype (14.15±0.62) was significantly 

higher than the rest genotypes, while the substrate type was insignificant in the growth 

parameters estimated (Table 2).  

 

Table 1. Agronomic performances of three varieties of watermelon grown in soil and soilless 

system 

 

Genotypes PH2 NOL2 LA2 PH4 NOL4 LA4 

Diamond black 15.08a 4.25a 10.33a 17.08a 6.63b 14.15a 

Crimson sweet 15.01a 4.25a 5.50b 17.13a 8.00a 9.69b 

Travelers 

watermelon 

12.43b 4.75a 5.45b 17.69a 7.00ab 9.88b 

LSD(0.05) 1.01 0.76 1.69 2.5 1.06 1.83 

SE 0.34 0.26 0.57 0.84 0.36 0.62 

 

Means with the same letter down the group are not significantly different from each other 

at 5% level of significance. LSD: Least significant difference, SE: Standard error, PH: Plant 

height, NOL: Number of leaves, LA: Leaf area. 

 

Table 2. Effect of substrate types (soil and cocopeat) on the agronomic performances of 

watermelon 

 

Substrates PH2 NOL2 LA2 PH4 NOL4 LA4 

Cocopeat 14.43a 4.42a 6.66a 17.03a 7.50a 10.55a 

Soil 13.91a 4.42a 7.53a 17.56a 6.92a 11.93a 

LSD(0.05) 0.82 0.62 1.38 2.04 0.86 1.5 

SE 0.28 0.21 0.46 0.69 0.29 0.5 

       

Genotypes X Substrates 

interaction 

0.18ns 1.50ns 4.31ns 12.04ns 3.79* 18.17ns 

 

Means with the same letter down the group are not significantly different from each other 

at 5% level of significance. LSD: Least significant difference, SE: Standard error, PH: Plant 

height, NOL: Number of leaves, LA: Leaf area. 

However, the number of days taken by the TSO genotype (42.25±0.62) was significantly 

higher than the BD (39.63±0.62) and CS (38.38±0.62) which took the shortest number of days to 

reach 50% flowering. Also the TSO genotype took an average of 62.63±0.69 days to produce 

fruits, which was significantly lower than the 59.50±0.69 days taken by the CS genotype which 

produced significantly heavier fruits (5.38±0.34) than the rest genotypes (Table 3). However, the 

number of days taken by the genotypes to produce fruits in the cocopeat substrate (61.92±0.57) 



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19 

was significantly higher than the 59.58±0.69 days spent to produce fruits in the soil, and the 

number of fruits produced by the genotypes in the soil system (2.33±0.22) was significantly 

higher than the ones produced in the cocopeat substrate (1.50±0.22) (Table 4). 

 

Table 3. Average yield performances of three varieties of watermelon 

 

Genotypes DT50%F DTFruiting NOF FW(kg) 

Black diamond 

watermelon 

39.63b 60.13b 1.88a 3.50b 

Crimson sweet 

watermelon 

38.38b 59.50b 1.75a 5.38a 

Traveler watermelon 42.25a 62.63a 2.13a 3.38b 

LSD(0.05) 1.83 2.06 0.8 1.02 

SE 0.62 0.69 0.27 0.34 

 

Means with the same letter down the group are not significantly different from each other at 5% 

level of significance. LSD: Least significant difference, SE: Standard error, DT50%F: Days to 

50% flowering, DTFruiting: Days to fruiting, NOF: Number of fruits and FW: Fruit weight. 

 

Table 4. Effect of substrate types (soil and cocopeat) on the yield performances of watermelon 

 

Substrates DT50%F DTFruiting NOF FW(kg) 

Cocopeat 40.08a 61.92a 1.50b 4.17a 

Soil 40.08a 59.58b 2.33a 4.00a 

LSD(0.05) 1.49 1.69 0.66 0.83 

SE 0.5 0.57 0.22 0.28 

     

GenotypesXSubstrates 

interaction 

11.38* 8.29ns 0.29ns 0.29ns 

 

Means with the same letter down the group are not significantly different from each other at 5% 

level of significance. LSD: Least significant difference, SE: Standard error, DT50%F: Days to 

50% flowering, DTFruiting: Days to fruiting, NOF: Number of fruits and FW: Fruit weight. 

 

DISCUSSION 

Ufoegbune et al. (2014) had earlier reported differences in watermelon varietal response to 

different climatic conditions as obtained in this study where the BD genotype showed superior 

agronomic performance to both CS and TSO genotypes. Although the BD genotype had a better 

agronomic performance compared to other genotype, it was the CS genotype that produced 

heavier fruits. This could be that the larger leaf area in the CS genotype provided it a larger 

photosynthetic surface, thus more photosynthates formed in it were channeled to the fruits 

(Richards, 2000).  

On the substrate type, the soil usage outperformed the cocopeat substrate in the number 

of fruit formed but the fruits in cocopeat substrates were heavier than the ones from soil, 

although not significant, the reason the differences in their weight was insignificant despite the 



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soil having higher number. The improved performance of the watermelon genotypes in soil could 

be a result of the inert organic manure or nutrients present in the soil before the application of 

external manure Adediran and Banjoko (2002). Although this findings contradicts the position of 

Law-Ogbomo and Ajayi (2009) who had a poor amaranthus performance in soil and 

recommended the use of organic manure to augment the soil, a position earlier held by 

Egharevba and Ogbe (2002). While it is intrinsic in the fertilization of cocopeat as it does not 

contain any inert nutrient. However, the hydroponics system had been reportedly used in the 

production of other vegetables (Ossai et al., 2020) as it ensures all year round vegetable 

production (Hoang, 2020). 

 

CONCLUSION 

The findings of this study had shown that in domesticating exotic watermelon varieties, it is 

importance to consider the environmental stability of the variety, as though the DB variety had 

better growth performance, it was the CS variety that produced bigger fruits which is the 

economic yield of the plant in Nigeria. However, to ensure the all year round performance of 

watermelon, the use of cocopeat substrate is important as the fruit weight obtained in it is same 

with the soil farming which contained additional inert nutrient to the ones used in fertigating the 

plants. Thus the CS variety and cocopeat substrate is recommended for vertical farming in 

Nigeria, while further research can be done on the mixture of cocopeat and soil in watermelon 

farming to reduce the cost of purchasing the substrate. 

 

REFERENCES 

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formulation for maize in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Soil Science, 13, 42-48.  

 

Egharevba, R. K. A., & Ogbe, F. M. (2002). The effects of different levels of organic and 

mineral fertilizers on the yield performance of two Amaranthus (A. cruentus) cultivars. 

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Kumar, R., Dia, M., & Wehner, T. C. (2013).  Implications of mating behavior in watermelon 

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Peter, O. J. (2018). Herdsmen/farmers conflict and its effects on socio-economic development in 

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Copyrights  

Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the 

journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative 

Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). 


