effect of nitrogen, potassium, and iron nutrition on growth and physiological characteristics of local melon accession of shahdad

Yield and plant growth are affected by fertilization and irrigation. therefore, effective fertilization methods and optimum use of fertilizers play a major role in improving fertilizer use efficiency and plant yield. this experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of nitrogen, potassium, and iron fertilizers on growth indices, photosynthetic pigments, mineral element concentrations, and yield indices of melon plants grown under field conditions. the fertilizer treatments were applied via fertigation and consisted of a control, as well as treatments with urea, potassium sulfate, fe-eddha, urea + potassium sulfate, urea + fe-eddha, and urea + potassium sulfate + fe-eddha. the experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. the results showed that the application of urea, potassium sulfate, and the combined application of these fertilizers increased the fresh and dry weight as well as the shoot length of the melon plants. however, the application of fe-eddha alone had no significant effect on the growth indices. regarding fruit yield indices, the number, length, diameter, and total yield of the fruits increased under the urea, potassium sulfate, urea + potassium sulfate, and urea + potassium sulfate + fe-eddha treatments compared with the control. the application of urea and potassium sulfate as fertigation can be considered an effective management strategy to enhance the growth and yield parameters of melon plants.