Field Crop 2018, Vol.1, No.1, 1-4
2
varietal evaluation is felt essential to identify suitable varieties for its production with superior attributes.
1 Materials and Methods
The investigation was undertaken during November 2016-March 2017 and the experiment was conducted at
Vegetable Research Centre (V.R.C.), Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar. It
falls in the humid subtropical zone and geographically situated at latitude of 29.50°north, longitude of 79.30°east
and at an altitude of 243.84 meters above the mean sea level. Pantnagar is situated in the foothills of Shivalik
range of the Himalayas, in a narrow belt called
Tarai
. Maximum temperature ranging from 32ºC to 43ºC in
summer and minimum temperature ranging from 0ºC to 9ºC in winter has been recorded.
The experiment was laid out in Two Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications. First factor
included two growing conditions
i.e.
naturally ventilated polyhouse and open growing condition with plastic
mulch, whereas the second factor comprises of ten varieties of summer squash collected from different sources
viz.
Cora (Check), Cheongma Zuchhini, Champion, ASV-3098, Long Green, Golden Yellow, Yellow Zuchhini, Green
Star, Sunny House and Catherina. Seedlings were raised in polybags and transplanted 15 days after sowing at a
spacing of 90 cm × 60 cm. Silver color plastic mulch of 25 micron thickness was used in open condition.
Observations for growth and yield attributes were recorded using standard techniques. The economics of summer
squash was worked out based on inputs and operational cost incurred since seed sowing to harvest of fruits
including marketing. The data recorded for both the year was analyzed using software TNAU STAT.
2 Results
2.1 Yield and yield attributes
Data on yield, average fruit weight, number of fruits per plant and number of harvesting of ten varieties of
summer squash were analyzed (Table 1). Among different varieties under polyhouse conditions, maximum fruit
yield was obtained in Cora (1033.72 q/ha) followed by Sunny House (882.28 q/ha), Catherina (828.78 q/ha) and
Champion (715.21 q/ha). While, in open growing condition, Champion was best performer (517.18 q/ha) closely
followed by Cheongma Zucchini (478.48 q/ha). Under polyhouse, maximum average fruit weight was recorded in
variety Long Green (1320 g) and minimum in variety Yellow Zucchini (713.33 g). In open condition, maximum
fruit weight obtained in Catherina (1079 g) and minimum in ASV-3098 (495.33 g).
Table 1 Effect of interaction of growing condition and variety on yield and yield attributes in summer squash
SN
Name of variety
Yield (q/ha)
Average fruit weight (g) Number of fruits
Number of harvesting
Polyhouse Open
Polyhouse
Open
Polyhouse Open Polyhouse Open
1
Cora (Check)
1033.72 263.30
902.33
946.00
4.62
1.51
5.66
4.76
2
CheongmaZuchhini
596.28
478.48
795.33
897.00
3.00
2.87
5.33
5.33
3
Champion
715.21
517.18
1148.66
996.33
2.50
2.81
4.00
5.33
4
ASV-3098
437.85
118.58
1306.66
495.33
1.37
1.29
3.33
3.66
5
Long Green
150.28
306.45
1320.00
856.66
0.49
1.91
2.33
4.66
6
Golden Yellow
520.15
184.42
743.66
581.66
3.16
1.70
5.00
4.33
7
Yellow Zucchini
483.11
317.19
713.33
556.33
2.75
3.07
5.66
6.00
8
Green Star
599.57
287.38
1138.33
742.33
2.12
2.09
5.00
4.00
9
Sunny House
882.28
399.42
777.66
927.33
4.62
2.33
6.00
5.00
10
Catherina
828.78
335.52
984.33
1079.00
3.37
1.68
5.33
5.33
Mean
624.72
320.79
983.03
807.80
2.80
2.13
4.76
4.83
CD at 5% (E×V)
133.79
159.89
0.64
1.47
As far as performance of summer squash with respect to number of fruits per plant is concerned, it was
significantly influenced by growing conditions. It was significantly higher in polyhouse and maximum 4.62
fruits/plant recorded in Cora and Sunny House, which also influenced number of harvestings positively and 5.66
