Watermelon (Syngenta), drying of plants, curling, cracking of fruits - need help

Farm Questions
1

Hi All,

Big issue in Watermelon Farm

Type of seed - Syngenta Sugar Queen
Date of Plantation - 15 March 2015
Problem started since last 2 weeks (20th April)
Temp range - 42 deg C - 46 deg C
Irrigation Type - Drip
Fruit Size - length ranging from 10cm to 30cm (some of them are more than 30 cms), Diameter 5cm to 25cms
Water management: a> Till flowering and small fruit size 1-2 hrs daily
b> Since last 5-7 days, gradually increased to 5 hours daily

Problems
1>Plants Getting dried and fruits of those plants getting hard, it is spreading, earlier farm was lush green and now it is getting dried
2>Curling of leaves changing color from dark green to pale yellow and finally dried
3>Fruits are cracking, some fruits are rotting at end.

Please let me know reasons what is going wrong and how to cure this.

Regards,
Krushan

2

I would suspect either a fungal disease or just the summer heat at work. In spite of irrigation, watermelon leaves crinkle in the sun, so is it just extreme sun?

Pics will help.

3

Thank you very much.

I am not equipped with camera, I shall arrange and post the photos.