Evaluation of red pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata duch ex. Poir) genotypes for growth, yield and quality

The present investigation entitled “Evaluation of red pumpkin (Cucurbit moschata Duch Ex. Poir.) genotypes for growth, yield and quality” was conducted during the period from kharif 2022 at All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications and ten genotypes with two standard check variety Arka Chandan and Arka Suryamukhi. The main objectives of the experiment were to evaluate the genotypes for growth, yield and quality characters of fruits. The analysis of variance revealed that mean sum of squares due to genotypes was highly significant for all characters like length of vine (m), number of primary branches per vine, days required for appearance of first male flower, days required for appearance of first female flower, number of male and female flowers per vine (sex ratio), days required for first harvest of fruits, number of fruits per vine, average weight of fruit (kg), length of fruit (cm), fruit diameter (cm), fruit yield (t/ha), fruit flesh thickness (cm), number of ridges per fruit, seed cavity length (cm), seed cavity width (cm), number of seeds per fruit, 100 seeds weight (g), T.S.S. (oBrix), β- carotene (mg/100g), downy mildew, powdery mildew and fruit fly. From overall performance of all the genotypes it can be concluded that the genotypes T10: 3X4 - 4-2-2-5-5-3, T8: 3X4 - 3-5-3-4-2-18 and T3: 1X2 - 7-6-2-9-20-9 showed better performance for growth, yield and yield contributing characters. Hence, selection of this genotypes for further evaluation could beneficial for improvement in red pumpkin. Thus study clearly indicate that favourable varieties could be developed with earliness, more number of fruits per vine, more flesh thickness coupled with high carotene content in pumpkin fruits suitable for neutraceticals industry.