An experiment entitled "Influence of spacing on yield, quality and economics of watermelon" was undertaken at Instructional farm department of vegetable science college of horticulture Dr. PDKV, Akola during summer season of 2018-2019 to study the influence of spacing on yield quality and economics of watermelon. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with four replications and five treatments viz. T1 (0.45 × 2.0 m) T2 (0.60 m × 2.0 m), T3 (0.75 m × 2.0 m), T4 (0.90 m × 2.0 m) and T5 (1.0 m × 2.0 m). As regard to yield parameter T5 (1.0 m × 2.0 m) was found superior in respect of days required for edible maturity, number of fruits plant -1 , average fruit weight and fruit yield kg plant -1 . While yield kg plot -1 and yield ha -1 were found maximum in treatment T1 (0.45 × 2.0 m). In respect of quality parameters, treatment T5 (1.0 × 2.0 m) recorded maximum fruit diameter, fruit length, TSS 0 Brix, reducing sugar, non-reducing and total sugar percent. Highest gross, net monetary returns and B:C ratio were obtained with treatment T1 (0.45 × 2.0 m). Therefore, treatment T1 (0.45 × 2.0 m) was found to be most remunerative considering B:C ratio.

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Problem of fruit oblongation arises in nagpur mandarin fruits from last decades and it is dominantly increasing from last 4 to 5 years in nagpur mandarin growing regions of Akot, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur and some part of Madhya Pradesh. The present investigation was carried out at Post Harvest Technology Laboratory, Department of Horticulture, Dr PDKV, Akola in order to study the physicochemical characteristics of physiologically disordered nagpur mandarin fruits. Samples of physiologically disordered fruits and normal fruits were collected from twenty-five orchards of five different locations (viz., Ruikhed, Anjangaon, Paratwada, Jittapur, Akot). It was found that the physiologically disordered fruits have low TSS (5.45 to 7.82 o Brix), ascorbic acid (8.43 to 14.97 mg 100 ml -1 ), reducing sugars (1.96 to 2.75%), non-reducing sugars (2.33 to 3.65%) and juice content (34.15 to 47.36%) with more acidity (0.73 to 0.80%), length breadth ratio (1.10 to 1.20), rind thickness (3.57 to 3.98 mm), pomace content (24.68 to 28.35%) and rag content (11.31 to 13.65%) as compared to normal fruits TSS (9.46 to 12.78 o Brix), ascorbic acid (32.15 to 42.57 mg 100 ml -1 ), reducing sugars (3.15 to 4.75%), non-reducing sugars (4.26 to 5.56%) juice content (49.16 to 52.24%), acidity (0.64 to 0.69%), length breadth ratio (0.85 to 0.90), rind thickness (3.57 to 3.98 mm), pomace content (24.68 to 28.35%) and rag content (11.31 to 13.65%) respectively.