Abstract:
This study was carried out to
determine the effect of different nutritional
systems (chemical, biological and
integrated) on germination and seedling
growth in medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita
pepo L.). The statistical design was a
randomized complete block design with
four replications. Four levels of different
fertilizing systems including chemical (T1),
biological (a combination of nitrogen
bacteria, Azospirillum brasilense and
Glomus mosseae) (T2) and integrated
fertilizing systems (biological fertilizer +
50% chemical fertilizer) (T3), and control
(without fertilizer) (T0), were employed.
The results indicated that the maximum seed
germination was 95% and the highest seed
germination rate with 30.4 per day was
observed in the intergraded nutritional
treatment. The experimental results showed
that all nutritional treatments had positive
effects on seed germination compared to
control. The highest level of germination
percentage with 95% and the highest rate of
germination with 30.4 seeds per day were
obtained in integrated nutritional treatment.
However, the integrated nutritional system
required more time to demonstrate its
positive effect on the growth and yield of
medicinal pumpkin compared to chemical
system. The results of present experiment
indicated that integrated nutritional
treatment had the greatest positive impact
on germination characteristics in medicinal
pumpkin. Designing and developing such
nutritional systems can guarantee and
facilitate the achievement of long-term
objectives of sustainable agriculture.
