Agronomical and biological results of solar energy heating by the combination of the sunstock system with an outside captor on a muskmelon crop grown in polyethylene greenhouses

Abstract

Six cultivars of muskmelon (Early Dew, "68-02", "Early Chaca", "Jivaro", "Super Sprint" and "Cantor") transplanted at two differents dates were cultivated under two PE greenhouses heated by solar energy recovery and compared to a control greenhouse. The greenhouses were covered with a double shield of normal PE of 100 microns. The first greenhouse was considered as the control. The second one was equipped with a sunstock solar energy collector distribution system, consisting in a covering of 37 % of the ground surface by flat black PVC tubes, used during the day as a solar energy captor for heating the water of a basin and during the night as a radiant mulch for heating the greenhouse by emission of radiation warmth. The third greenhouse was equipped also with the same sunstock System, but connected with a supplementary outdoor collector by means of flat PE tubes corresponding to about 28 % covering of the greenhouse, and resulting in a more important energy stock, available for heating during the night. Minimum air temperature was raised by about 1, 5 and 2, 5°C respectively in the second and the third greenhouse, while the minimum soil temperature was raised with about 1 and 2°C respectively. Evolution of the maximum temperatures was more irregular and was depending also from the incident energy. Plant growth under the solar heated greenhouse was more accelerated, and resulted in an earlier fruitset, an earlier production and a higher total yield.