Evaluation of morphological and yield characteristics of selected local pumpkin accessions in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Pumpkin is a popular vegetable cultivated worldwide for its high nutritional value and health benefits. The lack of locally developed elite germplasms has led farmers in Sri Lanka to adopt imported hybrid varieties. This implies the necessity of strengthening breeding programs for promoting local pumpkin germplasms. Hence, the present study was focused on evaluating seven pumpkin accessions obtained from Plant Genetic Resource Centre, Gannoruwa and to characterize morphologically and to assess their yield potentials. A field experiment was carried out by implementing a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Quantitative morphological traits were analyzed by ANOVA techniques. Accordingly, the vine length at flowering ranged between 2.5 m- 3.9 m (p<0.05), the shortest stem was produced by T1 while the longest were observed in T4 and T6. Interestingly, the number of days taken to male and female flowering ranged between 33-36d (p<0.05), denoting that all accessions had displayed early flowering character than the commercial pumpkin varieties (55d). At harvest, the highest fruit yield was recorded in accessions Thirunaweli (9.6 kg/plant) while the remainder counterparts had displayed half of the yielding capacity (p<0.05). Moreover, the analysis qualitative trait revealed that accession Wellawaya produced distinct ovate leaf shapes and fruits skin color (cream), while in Thirunaweli, had displayed unique cylindricalshaped fruits. Moreover, Principal component analysis revealed that accessions Thirunaweli had distinct cluster form the remainder germplasms. Hence, based on the results it was found that the overall performance of Thirunaweli and Wellawaya accessions were superior and suggested to introgress with the local crop improvement programs.