INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS, SOCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

ISSN: 2309-7892, Volume: 2, Issue: 2, Page: 113-115, October-December, 2014

Review Paper

GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE OF FOUR PUMPKIN (Cucurbita

moschata) LINES

AFM Jamal Uddin *1, M.A.A. Faruq 2, M.Z.K Roni 1, T. Taufique1 and H. Mehraj 1

AFM Jamal Uddin, M.A.A. Faruq, M.Z.K Roni, T. Taufique1 and H. Mehraj (2014). Growth and Yield Performance of
Four Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Lines. Int. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Res. 2(2): 113-115. Retrieve from
http://www.ijbssr.com/currentissueview/14013062

Received Date: 30/08/2014 Acceptance Date: 09/10/2014 Published Date: 15/10/2014

Abstract
An experiment was conducted at Horticultural farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Bangladesh during period from November 2013 to March 2014 to evaluate the performance of
four pumpkin lines (L 1 to L 4). From the result of the current study maximum number of
branches/plant (3.7), vine length (4.0 m), leaf area (946.6 cm2), single fruit weight (3.5 kg) and
yield (26.5 kg/plant) was found from L 2 but maximu m number of fruit/plant was found from L 4
(10.0). Early flowering (56.3 days) and maturity (93.7 days) was found from L 2 while minimum
sex ratio (male flower : female flower) from L 4 (0.33).
Key words: Pumpkin, lines, growth and yield.
Introduction
Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) belongs to Cucurbitaceae family, is a very popul ar vegetable with high
productivity and storability. Pumpkin has good nutritive benefits with balanced calori es and is a good
source of carotenoids (Murkovic et al., 2002; Hidaka and Nakatsu, 1987; Kwon et al., 2007). Pumpkins
are very versatile in their uses for cooking, can be stored for up to 6 months before being consumed and
hence can play an important role in maintaining nutritional levels during long dry seasons (Mendlinger et
al., 1991). There was a high varietals variation due to cross pollination (Naik, 1949). Better
understanding of genotype and environment will help to optimize yield and quality of crops. Any
individual organism is able to alter its morphology and/or physiology in response to changes in
environmental conditions (Schlichting, 1986). Higher proportion of phenotypic vari ation attributed to
genotypic differences, greater feasibility of genetic manipulation to improve crop performance.
Partitioning of phenotypic variance requires evaluating performance of genotypes in a range o f
environments (years and/or locations). Hence, current study was undertaken to evaluate the performance
of pumpkin lines.
Materials and Methods
An experiment was conducted at Horticultural farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agri cultural University, Dhaka,
Bangladesh during period from November 2013 to March 2014 to evaluate the performance of pumpkin
lines. Four pumpkin lines were used on the experiment viz. L1 : Line 1; L2 : Line 2; L3 : Line 3 and L4 :
Line 4. Seeds were sown on 50 cm × 50 cm × 45 cm sized pit. 2 m × 2 m distance was maintained.
Manures and fertilizers were applied as recommended by BARI (2011). Data were collected on number
of branches/plant, vine length at harvest, leaf area, chlorophyll content, sex ratio, days to flowering, days
to maturity, number of fruit/plant and single fruit weight. The number of male and female flowers were
visually counted and was calculat ed sex ratio through following formula; Sex ratio = Number o f
male/number of femal e flowers (M arie and Moham ed, 2010). Collected dat a were analyzed statistically
using MSTAT-C computer package programme and mean were calcul ated. Di fferences between
treatments were evaluated by Least Significance Di fference (LSD) test at 5% level of significance
(Gomez and Gomez, 1984).
Result and Discussion
Number of branches/plant: Number of branches/plant varied signi ficantly among the lines. Maximum
number of branches/plant was found from L2 (3.7) which was statistically similar with L1 (3.0) while
minimum from L3 and L4 (2.3) (Table 1). The number of branches/plant of C. moschata were ranged
from 3-4 (Grubben and Ngwerume, 2004).
Vine length at harvest: Vine length was varied significantly due to the variation of pumpkin lines.
However, longest vine was found from L2 (4.0 m) which was statistically similar with L1 (3.7 m) while

*Corresponding Authors Email: jamal4@yahoo.com

1
Department of horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
2
International University of Business Agriculture technology, Dhaka-1230, Bangladesh
Growth and Yield Performance of Four Pumpkin Lines 114

minimum from L4 (3.1 m) (Table1). Maximum vine length of pumpkin was found 3.5 m by Rahman et
al. (2013).
Leaf area: Leaf area of pumpkin was vari ed signi ficantly due to the variation of pumpkin lines.
Maximum leaf area was found from L2 (946.6 cm2 ) followed by L1 (928.4 cm2 ) whereas minimum from
L4 (901.4 cm2 ) (Table 1).
Chlorophyll content: Pumpkin lines showed significant variation for chlorophyll content. Maximum
chlorophyll content was found from L3 (79.0%) whereas minimum from L2 (58.6%) (Table 1).
Sex ratio: Pumpkin lines showed a significant variation of sex ratio. Maximum sex ratio was found from
L1 (0.45) while minimum from L4 (0.33) (Table 1). The decreasing sex ratio leads to a greater potential
fruit yield because of the increas e in the number of female flowers per plant whi ch develops into fruits.
Here, L4 had the lowest sex ratio that denotes L4 will produce the maximum number of fruit whereas L1
had the maximum sex ratio which denotes that L2 produce minimum number of fruits.
Days to flowering: Days to flowering of pumpkin lines varied significantly. However, early flowering
occurred in L2 (56.3 days) which was statistically identical with L1 (60.7 days) and L3 (61.0 days)
whereas L4 (71.3 days) was the late flowering line (Table 2). Days to flowering ranged from 57.3 to 88.3
days on the pumpkin accessions (Mendligner et al., 1992).
Days to maturity: Days to maturity of pumpkin lines varied significantly. However, early maturity
occurred in L2 (93.7 days ) followed by L1 (97.3 days) whereas L4 (103.3 days ) was the lat e one (Table
2).
Number of fruit/plant: Number of fruit/plant varied signi ficantly among the pumpkin lines. Maximum
number of fruit/plant was found from L4 (10.0) and minimum from L1 (7.0) which was statistically
identical with L2 (7.7) and L3 (7.3) (Table 2). L4 produced maximum number of fruits/plant that might be
due to the minimum sex ratio.
Single fruit weight: Single fruit weight was varied signi ficantly among the pumpkin lines. Maximum
single fruit weight was found from L2 (3.5 kg) followed by L1 (3.1 kg) while minimum from L4 (1.8 kg)
(Table 2).
Yield/plant: Significant variation was for yield/plant among the pumpkin lines. Maximum yield/plant
was found from L2 (26.7 kg) followed by L1 (21.4 kg) while minimum L4 (17.6) (Table 2). Development
of pumpkin germplasm with enhanced yield will potentially promote pumpkin cultivation and
production. This investigation found that the phenotypic variation existing among pumpkin genotypes for
yield is primarily under genetic cont rol. The differences between pumpkin genotypes for yield were
recorded also in previous studies (Karkleliene et al., 2008). The genetic control of pumpkin yield is
supported by the moderate heritability (43%) with moderat ely high genetic gain (44%) that was recorded
for yield (Mohanty and Mishra, 1999). Additive gene action has been suggested to control the expression
of yield and its components in pumpkin (Mohanty, 2000).
All of the pumpkin lines had reni form leaf shape, dentat e leaf margin and yellow colored flower. L1 , L2
and L4 had both silver and light green leaf spot but L3 had only silver leaf spot. Fruit shape was differed
among the lines. L3 had the elongate round shape fruit and rest of the lines had round shape fruit (Table
3).
Conclusion
Lastly it can be concluded that L2 (Line-2) performed as the best line among the lines used on the current
experiment regarding early flowering, maturity, single fruit weight and yield/plant but L4 (Line-4)
produced the maximum number of fruit/plant.
Table 1. Performance of sweet gourd lines to growth related attributesX
Number of Vine length (m) at Leaf area Chlorophyll
Varieties Sex ratio
branches/plant harvest (cm2 ) Content (%)
L1 3.0 ab 3.7 a 928.4 b 71.3 c 0.45 a
L2 3.7 a 4.0 a 946.6 a 58.6 d 0.42 b
L3 2.3 b 3.4 b 919.2 c 79.0 a 0.38 c
L4 2.3 b 3.1 c 901.4 d 76.0 b 0.33 d
LSD0.05 0.7 0.3 1.7 2.9 0.01
CV% 3.2 4.0 0.1 2.0 2.9
x
In a column means having similar letter(s) are statistically identical and those having dissimilar letter(s)
differ signifi cantly as per 0.05 level of probability

http://www.ijbssr.com
Uddin et al. 115

Table 2. Performance of sweet gourd lines to crop duration and yield related attributesX
Days to Number of Single fruit
Varieties Days to maturity Yield (kg)/plant
flowering fruit/plant weight (kg)
L1 60.7 b 97.3 c 7.0 b 3.1 b 21.4 b
L2 56.3 b 93.7 d 7.7 b 3.5 a 26.7 a
L3 61.0 b 99.7 b 7.3 b 2.6 c 19.3 bc
L4 71.3 a 103.3 a 10.0 a 1.8 d 17.6 c
LSD0.05 6.8 1.3 1.1 0.1 2.3
CV% 5.5 0.7 6.9 2.4 5.3
x
In a column means having similar letter(s ) are statistically identical and those having dissimilar letter(s)
differ signifi cantly as per 0.05 level of probability

Table 3. Morphological features of four pumpkin lines

Leaf Flower
Varieties Leaf shape Leaf spot color Fruit shape
margin color
L1 Reniform Dentate Both silver and light green Yellow Round
L2 Reniform Dentate Both silver and light green Yellow Round
L3 Reniform Dentate Silver Yellow Elongate round
L4 Reniform Dentate Both silver and light green Yellow Round
References
BARI (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute). 2011. KRISHI PROJUKTI HATBOI (Handbook of
Agro-technology), 5th edition. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur-1701,
Bangladesh, p. 468.
Gomez, K.A. and A.A. Gomez. 1984. Statistical Procedure for Agricultural Research. 2nd ed., Intl. Rice
Res. Inst., John Willy and Sons, New York, chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. PP. 187-
240.
Grubben, G.J.H. and F.C. Ngwerume. 2004. Cucurbita moschata Duchesne In: Grubben, G.J.H. and
Denton, O.A. (Editors). PROTA 2: Vegetables/Legumes. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Hidaka, T. and T.A. Nakatsu. 1987. The Composition and Vitamin a Value of the Carotenoids of
Pumpkins of Different Colors. Journal of Food Biochemistry. 11: 59-68.
Kwon, Y.I., E. Apostolidis, Y.C. Kim and K. Shetty. 2007. Health Benefits of Traditional Corn, Beans
and Pumpkin: In Vitro Studies for Hyperglycemia and Hypertension Management. Journal of
Medicinal Food. 10(2): 266-275.
Marie, I.A. and H.G. Mohammed. 2010. Effect of foliar application of potassium and IAA on growth and
yield of two cultivars of squash (Cucurbita pepo L.). Journal of Tikrit University for
Agricultural Eciences. 10(2): 229 - 242.
Mendlinger, S., J. Chweya, A. Benzioni, A. Seme, M. Ventura, C. Lungaho and V. Okoko. 1991.
Collection, evaluation and breeding of Afri can edible vegetables. BGUN- ARI-25-92. Annual
report 1991 on AID-CDR programme.
Mohanty, B.K. 2000. Combining Ability for Yield and Its Components in Pumpkin. Indian Journal of
Genetics and Plant Breeding. 60(3): 33-37.
Mohanty, B.K. and R.S. Mishra. 1999. Variation and Genetic Parameters of Yield and Its Components in
Pumpkin. Indian Journal of Horticulture. 56(4): 337-342.
Murkovic, M., U. Mulleder and H. Nevnteuft. 2002. Carotenoid Content in Di fferent Varieties o f
Pumpkin. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 15(6): 633-638.
Naik, K.C. 1949. South Indian Fruits and their culture. P. Varadachary and Co., Madras. Martin and
Ruberte, 1978.
R. Karkleliene, P. Viskelis and M. Rubinskiene. 2008. Growing, Yielding and Quality of Different
Ecologically Grown Pumpkin Cultivars. Sodininkyste Ir. Darzininkyste. 27(2): 401-409.
Rahman, M., Z. Alam, M. A. Mondol and G. M. M. Rahman. 2013. Perform ance of sweet gourd in
association with eucalyptus saplings. J. Agrofor. Environ. 7(1): 19-21.
Schlichting, C. D. 1986. The Evolution of Phenotypic Plasticity in Plants. Annual Review of Ecology and
Systematics. 17: 667-693.
http://www.ijbssr.com