The Effect of Soil Mulching and Fluoroton Spraying on the Productivity of Two Zucchini Squash hybrids (Cucurbita pepo L.) under Greenhouse Conditions

Abstract

The experiment was carried out in one of the greenhouses affiliated to the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering - College of Agriculture - University of Karbala for the spring season 2022. The study included the effect of three factors, the first factor at four levels, which are mulching soil As follows (without mulching M0, transparent plastic cover M1, black plastic cover M2 and black geotextile cover M3) and the second factor spraying with a fluorotone compound in two concentrations (0 gm L-1 S0 and 0.5 gm L-1 S1), Spraying was done during the true leaf stage and flowering stage and the third factor is two hybrids of zucchini squash hybrids, namely (variety CHAMSA F1 V1 and cultivar YOULAND F1 V2), thus the total number of treatments became sixteen with a factorial experiment, with 3 replications for each treatment, thus the number of experimental units is forty-eight experimental units, Each experimental unit contains eight plants, The randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used and the results were analyzed using the statistical program Gens Stat and the averages were compared according to the least significant difference (LSD) test at the level of probability 0.05. The results showed that the V1 variety was superior to the V2 variety in most of the studied productive traits, which were represented in the number of fruits, the yield of one plant, and the total yield, except for the early plant yield, as the V2 variety was superior compared to the V1 variety. As for the fluoroton treatment, the spray treatment S1 excelled in all the studied productive characteristics compared to the control treatment S0. As for the soil covers, the black plastic cover M2 recorded the highest production in all the studied characteristics, followed by the transparent plastic cover M1, which was significantly superior to the comparison treatment (without covering) and the black geotextile cover M3.