Influence of Harvesting Stage on Seed Quality Aspects of Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.)

Statement of the Problem: The availability of certified seeds to rural farmers is very important for sustainable agriculture in developing countries. Farmers usually harvest the fruits of pumpkin for food then use the extracted seed at the time of planting. Yet the fruit at harvest may not coincide with the seed quality. This causes the mixture of mature and immature seeds at harvest hence causing poor seed quality.

Aim: This study was done to examine the influence of harvesting stage-Days After Anthesis-(DAA) and different sites of the North-rift of Kenya, on seed quality aspects of pumpkin.

Methodology: Two types of pumpkin seeds, from round fruit and oval fruit, were planted in the rainfall season of 2015. Four harvesting stages (30 DAA, 40 DAA, 50 DAA and 60 DAA) were done on the two pumpkin types at three sites (AIC Cheptebo, Kaiboi Technical Training Institute-KTTI and University of Eldoret-UOE). The seeds were then extracted and seed testing was done on germination and seed vigor.

Results: The seeds from fruits harvested at 60 DAA showed higher seed weight, germination and vigor compared to those from fruits harvested at an earlier stage of 30 DAA. Seed weight, germination and vigor for the two pumpkin types were not significantly different at P≤0.05. In spite of the different harvesting stages and pumpkin types, the best seed qualities were observed for seeds harvested from AIC Cheptebo compared to seeds from KTTI and UOE.

Conclusion: This showed that seed physiological maturity occurs at 60 DAA and that higher temperature (30⁰C) which was at AIC Cheptebo favored better physiological maturity evaluation in the pumpkin. Therefore, pumpkin is a warm-season crop.