English

Abstract

Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) young leaves and vines are consumed as vegetables among the rural dwellers in Southwest Nigeria. It is a cheap source of protein, vitamins, fibres and antioxidants in their diet. Due to the intensive cultivation of available lands which affects the nutrient status of most soils and their productivity, the need to apply fertilizer on pumpkin became pertinent. Therefore, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) fertilizer influence on biomass accumulation in pumpkin was investigated for two consecutive seasons in 2010 at the Research Farm of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. NPK (15:15:15) compound fertilizer was applied at the rates of (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg ha-1) to C. pepo at 2 weeks after planting (WAP). At 8 WAP, the following morpho-physiological traits: vine length, vine diameter, number of internodes, internodes length, vine weight, number of leaves, total fresh and dry biomass assessed were significantly influenced by season and fertilizer effects. The combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the effects of season (S) and fertilizer (F) are significant effect on all the traits. Season effect showed that the early season was better (p = 0.05) while the application of fertilizer beyond 100 kg of NPK per hectare was not statistically beneficial for biomass yield and its components. However, the significant S X F interaction on the total dry matter fitted well into a quadratic equation with significant R2 values. The response curves showed higher response to fertilizer in the early than late planting season and a maximum biomass yield was attained at the application of 205 kg and 244 kg ha-1 of NPK (15-15-15) for early and late season cultivations, respectively. Key words: Biomass, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) fertilizer, pumpkin, dry matter, morpho-physiological trait, quadratic equation.