The muskmelon cultivars,‘Zhongtian No.1’ was used to investigate effects of number of top vine and fruit on plant growth,leaf antioxidative characteristics,yield and quality of muskmelon.The six treatments are as follows:V1F2,V2F2,V3F2,V1F3,V2F3,V3F3,one fruit without top vine was set as CK.The results revealed that:(1)Increased fruit number leads to inhibited growth in muskmelon plant,which was seen in stem diameter,average node length and functional leaf length;(2)O^-·₂ production rate and MDA content was higher with two fruits than that with three fruits,while O^-·₂ production rate was lower than that of CK and MDA higher than that of CK;SOD activity in V2F2 was higher than that in CK and other treatments,and a minimum was seen in V3F3.POD activity in V2F2 was lower than that in CK and other treatments,and a maximum was seen in V3F3;(3)Increased side vines with 2 fruits per plant led to improved fruit quality while a worse quality was seen with 3 fruit setting per plant.In this study,V2F2 was favorable for plant growth,antioxidative capability enhancement,leaf senescence delay,and consequently,increased per-plant yield and improved fruit quality.