Table 1 Marginal means and 2-factor interactions for marketable fruit yield, LAI, post-harvest dry matter partitioning, and irrigation use efficiency response of greenhouse-produced muskmelon plants to sub-surface drip-irrigation tubing placement depth x soil aeration frequency x irrigation level treatment factors. In each row, the means for the levels of a given factor not followed by the same letter are significantly different at the 5% level. Two-factor interaction is significant at the 1% (**), 5% (*), or not significant (ns) level

Yield (kg)

1.48ab

1.59a

1.38b

1.64a

1.51ab

1.43b

1.35b

1.53a

1.51a

1.40a

3.012 ns

1.995 ns

0.753 ns

0.296 ns

3.606*

0.988 ns

LAI₂₅

1.41a

1.41a

1.11a

1.63a

1.42a

1.33a

0.84b

1.38a

1.41a

1.13a

1.128 ns

8.087**

1.608 ns

3.018*

1.143 ns

2.674 ns

LAI₅₅

2.22b

3.05a

2.81a

3.11a

2.55a

2.62a

2.48a

2.52a

2.61a

2.94a

5.334**

1.028 ns

2.029 ns

1.486 ns

1.792 ns

1.623 ns

LAI₇₅

2.31b

3.25a

3.02a

3.00a

3.06a

2.96a

2.43a

2.63a

3.02a

2.94a

5.788**

1.201 ns

0.777 ns

1.017 ns

0.986 ns

2.703*

Total DM (g)

43.3b

52.9ab

60.3a

62.6a

54.2ab

49.2b

42.6b

52.2a

51.6a

52.6a

5.347**

3.900*

0.017 ns

0.440 ns

3.821*

2.659*

Stem DM (g)

11.3b

11.1b

13.2a

13.6a

12.2ab

11.4bc

10.3c

12.1a

11.9a

11.6a

4.325*

5.880**

0.158 ns

2.450 ns

7.550**

5.376**

Leaf DM(g)

29.9b

40.1a

44.9a

46.4a

39.9ab

36.0ab

30.9b

37.8a

37.9a

39.2a

5.109*

2.589 ns

0.041 ns

0.294 ns

2.469 ns

2.062 ns

Root DM (g)

2.01a

1.79a

2.14a

2.52a

2.07b

1.88bc

1.47c

2.31a

1.82b

1.82b

1.187 ns

8.887**

3.337*

4.014**

8.847**

2.320 ns

IUE_f (g liter⁻¹)

17.0a

18.8a

15.8a

20.0a

17.4a

15.1a

16.3a

21.5a

17.2b

12.9c

0.986 ns

1.450 ns

14.198**

1.623 ns

2.677 ns

6.178**

IUE_dm (g liter⁻¹)

6.15b

7.64ab

8.94a

9.75a

7.81ab

6.53b

6.20b

9.23a

7.29b

6.20b

2.827 ns

2.971*

3.524*

4.388**

5.694**

3.996**