scholarly journals Yellow Squash and Zucchini Cultivar Evaluation in Georgia

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-302
Author(s):  
Timothy Coolong

Ten yellow squash (Cucurbita pepo) and nine zucchini (C. pepo) cultivars were evaluated in southwest Georgia during spring and fall growing seasons in 2014 and 2015. Plants were grown using plastic mulch and drip irrigation following standard production practices for squash in Georgia. Plants were harvested 10 to 13 times during each study season. Fruit were graded into fancy, medium, and culls. Virus pressure was low during the trials. For yellow squash yields, there were significant cultivar by season interactions; however, Solstice, a straightneck yellow squash, and Gentry, a crookneck cultivar, were consistently among the highest yielding yellow types. Despite having no documented virus resistance, ‘Gentry’ performed well during the fall season. However, ‘Precious II’, a yellow straightneck cultivar with the presence of the precocious yellow gene, experienced high cull rates in the fall due to virus effects on the fruit. There was a year by season by cultivar interaction for zucchini yield. Despite this interaction, ‘Respect’ was ranked among the highest yielding cultivars in all four seasons of the trial. Differences were also observed between seasons for yellow and zucchini squash, with fall yields generally being lower than those in the spring. The results of this study suggest significant differences in the adaptability of squash cultivars for spring and fall production in Georgia. In addition, virus resistance, while important, should not be the exclusive factor for determining cultivars for fall-planted squash in Georgia.

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimeng Zhang ◽  
Guanhua Huang ◽  
Xu Xu ◽  
Yunwu Xiong ◽  
Quanzhong Huang

Accurate estimation of crop evapotranspiration (ET) is critical for agricultural water resource management and proper irrigation scheduling. The 2-year field experimental data of processing tomato under plastic-mulched drip and basin irrigation in the Hetao Irrigation District (Hetao), located in the upper reaches of the Yellow river, were used to calibrate and validate the SIMDualKc model. The model adopted the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) dual Kc method for partitioning ET into plant transpiration and soil evaporation. The results showed a good agreement between soil water observations and simulations throughout the growing seasons with a low error estimate and high model efficiency. The calibrated basal potential crop coefficients for the initial stage, mid-season stage, and late stage were 0.30, 0.92, and 0.60, respectively. ET during the two growing seasons was in the range of 284–331 mm for basin irrigation and 266–310 mm for drip irrigation. The average soil evaporation accounted for 5% of ET in 2015 and 14% of ET in 2016 for drip irrigation treatments, while it accounted for 4% and 13% of ET for basin irrigation treatments in the two experimental years, indicating that transpiration was the dominant component of ET of processing tomato under plastic mulch in Hetao. The highest water productivity was obtained from the drip irrigation treatment. The SIMDualKc model is an appropriate tool to estimate crop ET and may be further used to improve local irrigation scheduling for processing tomato in the upper reaches of the Yellow river.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Danijela Kondić ◽  
Đurađ Hajder ◽  
Nataša Pajović ◽  
Biljana Kukavica ◽  
Zoran Jovović

The yield components participate in the formation of the overall yield and vary within the genotype and environmental factors. The aim of this research was to evaluate yield components of spelt genotypes originating from different Western Balkan countries. Spelt genotypes were examined during two growing seasons 2015/16 and 2016/17 in the agro-ecological conditions of Banja Luka. Nine spelt genotypes were used, i.e. landrace Sitnica from Manjača mountain (the Republic of Srpska, B&H), seven Montenegrin landraces KP34LJ5-1/34 (SP1), KR16LJ5-1/16 (SP2), KR29LJ5-1/29 (SP3), KR12LJ5-1/12 (SP4), KR15LJ5-1/15 (SP5), LJ5-1/9 (SP6), KR20LJ5-1/20 (SP7) and cultivar Nirvana from Serbia. Standard production practices were applied for these spelt genotypes. Five traits were analyzed: the number of spikes m-2, plant height, spike length, the number of grains spike-1 and spike index. A two-factorial analysis of variance was performed and significant differences between treatment means were tested by the Fisher's LSD test at P≤0.05 and P≤0.01 significance level. Genotypes SP4 (140.38 cm), SP5 (138.82 cm), Sitnica (137.66 cm) and SP6 (135.65 cm) showed tendency of forming a relatively higher plants. Sitnica had the longest spikes (14.07 cm), while Montenegrin genotypes had relatively shorter spikes of 6.79 cm on average. Genotypes SP2, SP4, SP5, SP6 and SP7 obtained the highest number of grains per spike while the highest average spike index was obtained in SP7 (0.81).


HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 886e-886
Author(s):  
Craig R Andersen ◽  
Danielle B. Williams

Pumpkin cultivar trials were held in 2003 and 2004 at the Agricultural Experiment Station Fayetteville, AR. 18 cultivars were direct seeded the 4th week of June. Plots 8 plants each, spaced 3 ft apart, 12 ft between rows were randomly replicated 6 times. Pumpkin fruit were harvested October 1 and evaluated for number, size shape, and quality. Plots were irrigated by drip irrigation and standard production practices were followed. During 2004 the same practices were followed except plots were planted during the second week of July. In 2003 large fruited pumpkins yielded 700 to 1950 fruit per acre. Howden, the industry standard yielded 700 fruit, averaging 16 lb each, with a gross return of $700/acre. Cultivar fruit size ranged from 15 to 27 lb, and yields ranged from 10200 to 52000 lbs to the acre. Based on the 1 Oct. 2003 prices from USDA AMS, gross returns ranged from $744 to $1760 per acre. Specialty types Jack be Quick, Rouge, and Long Island Cheese yielded 15700, 1800, and 1470 fruit per acre valued at $2100, 1950, and 3400 respectively. Excessive rain in June 2004, and cooler that normal weather during July and early August significantly affected quality and yields of pumpkin fruit. Fruit number and size per plot were reduced up to 75%. Yields ranged from 10% to 20% of 2003 yields. Fruit quality was significantly affected making most of the fruit harvest unmarketable due to immaturity and size.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
SK SRIVASTAVA ◽  
PAWAN JEET

A study was conducted to assess the effect of drip irrigation and plastic mulch on growth and seed yield of Semialata. Two types of plastic mulch (green and silver/black) were tested at three levels of irrigation (120%, 100% and 80%) by drip irrigation and one level (100%) by furrow irrigation. The daily water requirement of Semialata was estimated by the equation ETcrop= ETox crop factor. ETcrop is crop water requirement mm/day. ETo (reference evapotranspiration, mm/day) was calculated by FAO calculator which uses temperature and humidity data. In this experiments there were twelve treatments were considered. The treatments were replicated thrice. The experiment was laid in randomized block design. It was observed that drip irrigation with or without plastic mulch is yielding better results in terms of growth parameters and seed yield as compared to furrow irrigation without plastic mulch. It was also observed that maximum suppression (67.58%) of weeds resulted with drip irrigation and silver/black plastic mulch at 80% level of irrigation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1281-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipin Ai ◽  
Yonghui Yang

Abstract Compared with more comprehensive physical algorithms such as the Penman–Monteith model, the Priestley–Taylor model is widely used in estimating evapotranspiration for its robust ability to capture evapotranspiration and simplicity of use. The key point in successfully using the Priestley–Taylor model is to find a proper Priestley–Taylor coefficient, which is variable under different environmental conditions. Based on evapotranspiration partition and plant physiological limitation, this study developed a new model for estimating the Priestley–Taylor coefficient incorporating the effects of three easily obtainable parameters such as leaf area index (LAI), air temperature, and mulch fraction. Meanwhile, the effects of plastic film on the estimation of net radiation and soil heat flux were fully considered. The reliability of the modified Priestley–Taylor model was testified using observed cotton evapotranspiration from eddy covariance in two growing seasons, with high coefficients of determination of 0.86 and 0.81 in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Then, the modified model was further validated by estimating cotton evapotranspiration under three fractions of mulch cover: 0%, 60%, and 100%. The estimated values agreed well with the measured values via water balance analysis. It can be found that seasonal variation of the modified Priestley–Taylor coefficient showed a more reasonable pattern compared with the original coefficient of 1.26. Sensitivity analysis showed that the modified Priestley–Taylor coefficient was more sensitive to LAI than to air temperature. Overall, the modified model has much higher accuracy and could be used for evapotranspiration estimation under plastic mulch condition.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandrasekar S. Kousik ◽  
Scott Adkins ◽  
Craig G. Webster ◽  
William W. Turechek ◽  
Philip Stansly ◽  
...  

Watermelon vine decline (WVD) caused by the whitefly-transmitted Squash vein yellowing virus (SqVYV) has been a serious limiting factor in watermelon production in southwest and west-central Florida over the past few years. Symptoms of WVD typically appear as sudden decline of vines a few weeks before harvest or just after the first harvest. Fruit symptoms include rind necrosis and flesh discoloration that affects fruit quality and marketability. The combination of insecticide treatments consisting of an imidacloprid drench (Admire Pro, 560 ml/ha) at transplanting followed by two foliar applications of spiromesifen (Oberon, 2SC, 490 ml/ha) and reflective plastic mulch was evaluated for management of WVD during fall growing seasons of 2006, 2007, and 2009. Virus inoculum source was introduced by planting SqVYV-infected squash plants at the ends of each plot. In all three experiments, the insecticide-treated plots had significantly lower levels of WVD on foliage and fruit compared to non-treated plots. In 2007, the reflective plastic mulch was effective in reducing foliar WVD compared to non-reflective mulch, but not in 2006 and 2009. No significant interaction between plastic mulch and chemical treatments was observed on WVD development on foliage or fruit. Our results suggest that application of insecticides for managing whiteflies can help manage SqVYV-caused WVD. Accepted for publication 13 January 2015. Published 25 March 2015.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 214-218
Author(s):  
Manpreet Singh Preet ◽  
Rajesh Kumar ◽  
VP Singh ◽  
Jitendra Kumar ◽  
AK Singh ◽  
...  

HortScience ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 432-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric B. Brennan ◽  
Richard F. Smith

Strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) production in California uses plastic mulch–covered beds that provide many benefits such as moisture conservation and weed control. Unfortunately, the mulch can also cause environmental problems by increasing runoff and soil erosion and reducing groundwater recharge. Planting cover crops in bare furrows between the plastic cover beds can help minimize these problems. Furrow cover cropping was evaluated during two growing seasons in organic strawberries in Salinas, CA, using a mustard (Sinapis alba L.) cover crop planted at two seeding rates (1× and 3×). Mustard was planted in November or December after strawberry transplanting and it resulted in average densities per meter of furrow of 54 and 162 mustard plants for the 1× and 3× rates, respectively. The mustard was mowed in February before it shaded the strawberry plants. Increasing the seeding rate increased mustard shoot biomass and height, and reduced the concentration of P in the mustard shoots. Compared with furrows with no cover crop, cover-cropped furrows reduced weed biomass by 29% and 40% in the 1× and 3× seeding rates, respectively, although weeds still accounted for at least 28% of the furrow biomass in the cover-cropped furrows. These results show that growing mustard cover crops in furrows without irrigating the furrows worked well even during years with relatively minimal precipitation. We conclude that 1) mustard densities of ≈150 plants/m furrow will likely provide the most benefits due to greater biomass production, N scavenging, and weed suppression; 2) mowing was an effective way to kill the mustard; and 3) high seeding rates of mustard alone are insufficient to provide adequate weed suppression in strawberry furrows.


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