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Article analysis:

The article “Effects of Water and NPK Fertigation on Watermelon Yield, Quality, Irrigation-Water, and Nutrient Use Efficiency under Alternate Partial Root-Zone Drip Irrigation” is a well-written article that provides an in-depth analysis of the effects of alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation (APRD) coupled with NPK fertigation on watermelon performance and resource use efficiency. The authors have conducted a comprehensive study on the topic by conducting experiments in a greenhouse in Xuji Village, Huaibei, China from March to June 2017. The results showed that compared with conventional drip irrigation (CDI) at the same fertigation level, APRD increased the photosynthetic rate by 10.1%, plant growth by 25.5%, and NPK absorption by 29.1% across all growth stages respectively. Additionally, APRD increased vitamin C, total soluble solids (TSS), and the ratio of TSS to total organic acids by 63.2%, 6.2% and 17.2%, respectively while saving up to 40% of total irrigation water and NPK fertilisers without reducing yield or affecting fruit quality negatively.

The article is reliable as it provides detailed information about the experimental site including climate conditions such as annual average air temperature, frost-free period, relative humidity etc., soil characteristics such as pH (H2O), organic matter content etc., experimental treatments such as irrigation amounts, drip irrigation modes etc., as well as results from experiments conducted in the greenhouse which are supported by data collected from pre-buried TDR tubes coupled with a portable TDR soil moisture meter for monitoring soil moisture content at 0–20 cm depth around each plant in each plot head for calculating the amount of irrigation water applied for each treatment plot before starting drip fertigation treatment on April 8th fifteen days after transplanting (DAT).

However there are some potential biases that should be noted when interpreting the results presented in this article such as