Effect of Compound Functional Substrate on Growth and Fruit Quality of Melon
GONG Binbin1，WU Xiaolei1，WANG Shuo1，GAO Xiurui2，LIU Zhaoyang1，ZHANG Ying1，GAO#br#
Hongbo1*
（1College of Horticulture，Hebei Agricultural University，Baoding 071001，Hebei，China；2Institute of Cash Corps，Hebei
Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences，Shijiazhuang 050051，Hebei，China）
Abstract：Taking melon variety ‘Xizhoumi No.25’as material，and peat
Abstract：Abstract：Taking melon variety ‘Xizhoumi No.25’as material，and peat，vermiculite，perlite
（volume ratio 2∶1∶1） as basic substrate，mixing 2 or 4 times Hoagland nutrient solution，water-retaining
agent and Bacillus subtilis to match substrates with different compound functions，this paper explored
the effects of nutrient solution concentration，water-retaining agent mixed with Bacillus subtilis on melon
growth，development and fruit quality．The results showed that comparing with the treament of only adding
2 and 4 times nutrient solution（T1，T5），the substrate mixed with nutrient solution，water-retaining
agent，and Bacillus subtilis（T4，T8） could significantly increase the biomass，leaf chlorophyll content，
photosynthesis，single fruit weight；promote the accumulation of soluble protein and sugar contents，and
reduce the content of nitrate and titratable acid of melon fruit．Results of multi-factor variance analysis showed
that water-retaining agent had the most evident effects on increasing leaf chlorophyll content，improving
water use efficiency，increasing single fruit weight and fruit soluble sugar content，and reducing nitrate
content．Bacillus subtilis had the most significant effect on increasing plant biomass，promoting
photosynthesis，enhancing fruit soluble protein content and reducing titratable acid content．Among all
treatments，T8 had the best result，i.e. mixing water-retaining agent with Bacillus subtilis and 4 times nutrient
solution．Therefore，in melon substrate cultivation，it is recommended to use peat，vermiculite and perlite
（volume ratio 2∶1∶1）as basic substrate，mixed with 4 times Hoagland nutrient solution，water-retaining
agent（8 mL · L-1） and Bacillus subtilis（2 g · L-1），naming compound functional substrate．
