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Vertical conduction system and plant density of mini watermelon in greenhouseThe consumption of differentiated products increased during the last years. This niche of market is of great interest by growers to achieve higher returns compared to traditional products. One example is the mini watermelon, which is grown not only under field, but also under greenhouse conditions. Plants under greenhouse must be conducted vertically and pruned. This research aimed to investigate the influence of three conducing systems (S1= one stem and one fruit per plant attached to the main stem; S2= one stem and one fruit per plant attached to the secondary stem, and S3= two stems per plant and one fruit attached to the main stem) and two plant densities (2.4 and 4.8 plants/m 2 ) on the vegetative, productive and qualitative characteristics of mini watermelon grown in the vertical system. The plant conduction system with two stems and one fruit increased yield of fruit, without differing from S1. For this system, the increased density of 4.8 plants/m 2 increased yield by approximately twice the density of 2.4 plants/m 2 , but it caused 12.5% of reduction on average fruit weight. Regardless of plant density and conduction system, fruits presented adequate quality for marketing and yield corresponding to 2 to 4 times the national average for watermelon grown in the traditional system.

The economic importance of small tomato fruits has been increased considerably due to the significant levels of lycopene and sugars. However, to achieve these compounds, the harvest is limited to a ripening stage demanded by consumers, which could reduce this marked period. Harvesting at an early stage and use of conservation techniques are desirable to amplify the marketing period. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of small tomato fruits, Sweet Grape cultivar, harvested at two stages of ripening (light red and red), kept in three types of package (perforated PET, PEBD 30 μ and Vegetal Pack 18 μ) at a temperature of 20±1ºC and a relative humidity (RH) of 85±5% during 20 days. During this period, gas composition inside the packaging (O 2 , CO 2 and ethylene), peel color, fresh mass loss, soluble solids content (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA and ascorbic acid levels were evaluated every 5 days. The lycopene content was determined at the beginning and the end of conservation. The experimental design was completely randomized in a split plot with four replications. Mass loss, peel color and gas composition were affected by both stage of harvest and package. The total SS/TA increased 4.74 during the conservation for two stages, regardless of package. The light red fruits reached after 20 days of conservation, mean levels of lycopene of 16.47 mg 100 g -1 and SS/TA of 18.43; on the other hand the red fruits achieved 15.30 mg 100 g -1 of lycopene and 16.80 of SS/TA. There was a mean increase of 8.4 mg 100 g -1 of lycopene in light red fruits, while in red fruits, the increase was 0.9 mg 100 g -1 . The PEDB film was the best to maintain the fresh mass and peel color, therefore it was indicated for the maintenance of these attributes. The Vegetal Pack film showed no advantage in relation to the PET perforated packaging.