Effect of fruit retention and seed position on the seed yield and quality in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) cv Pusa Hybrid 1

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of fruit retention and seed position in fruit on the seed yield and seed quality in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch. ex Poir.) cv. Pusa Hybrid 1 during summer 2008 and 2009, Seed Production Unit, IARI, New Delhi. Among two methods of fruit retentions, one fruit per vine (T1) showed superiority over two fruits per vine (T2) in fruit development and seed yield attributes, viz. fruit weight (4.46 kg), fruit length (22.35 cm), fruit width (20.53 cm), cavity size, filled seeds (473.50), total number of seeds per fruit (479.42), 100 seed weight (14.67 g) and seed yield per fruit (70.44 g). Similarly, T1 over T2 were highly significant for germination (94.27 %), total seedling length (32.76 cm), seedling dry weight (51.01 mg), vigour index- I (3032.24), vigour index- II (4721.10) and low moisture content. Within the fruit, middle segment showed highest number of filled seed (166.40), total number of seed (175.70), germination (90.64 %), seedling length (20.94 cm),seedling dry weight (47.53 mg), vigour indices I and II (2666.44 and 3491.82),and low moisture content (8.63%). Based on this, it is proposed to retain one fruit per vine and extract seed from middle and stylar segments of fruit for high quality seed production in pumpkin cv. Pusa Hybrid 1.