Arrigoni, international producer of agrotextiles for agriculture, has unveiled PRISMA thermo-reflective agrotextiles and BIORETE insect screens solutions, particularly for melon and watermelon
Field tests conducted with Prisma at an Italian manufacturer have shown efficacy in controlling temperature, with a consequent reduction in water consumption and better yield of plants.
High summer temperatures, in particular, represent a problem for those who produce late melons. Prisma, a range of protective screens that optimise light diffusion while ensuring temperature control, is ideal for controlling temperatures under tunnel. Conducted at "La Palazzina" farm in Gualtieri (RE), specialised in melons, watermelons and pumpkins, Arrigoni field tests shown that these screens allows the production of late melon: thanks to reduced temperatures under cover, this solution proved to reduce enormously melon plants stress during the warmer months.
In addition, the use of these agrotextiles allows to cultivate without the need to whitewash the plastic film during summer, allowing it to remain transparent for winter cycles. However, whitewash is never perfectly uniform, thus involving the risk of sunburns. Prisma is placed on the tunnels and can be easily fixed and removed thanks to the use of specific clips supplied by Arrigoni.
For watermelons, however, one of the biggest threats comes from aphids. For total protection, Arrigoni offers the Biorete Air Plus range, innovative anti-insect screens with low-thickness and high-resistance monofilament. There are several advantages that this solution ensures: better ventilation with a high level of protection, reduced temperatures inside greenhouses, reduced occurrence of cryptogamic diseases, better fruit setting and plant development, better quality, and sensory properties of fruits.
China tops the international melon and watermelon production
The Asia nation accounts for more than 40 per cent of watermelon production and 35 per cent of melon production. Turkey and Iran challenge for the second and third positions of this special ranking, with 2.05 per cent and 2.03 per cent respectively for watermelon and 8.17 per cent and 8.27 per cent for melon.
Paolo Arrigoni, managing director of Arrigoni, said, “The solutions we offer on melon and watermelon, as well as on various other fruit and vegetable crops, go precisely in this direction, reducing the use of chemicals and ensuring a cooler and ideal environment for plants growth. Effectively protected, plants can absorb the most authentic force of nature and with less water consumption.”
