Morphological Characteristics of Selected Fruit Parts and Naked Seeds of Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the variability of some morphological characters on fruits of selected plants within the population of ESO variety of Styrian oil pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca). For experimental evaluation, we used two years (2020–2021) measurements of 165 selected fruits from individual plants grown in the field conditions in Kolíňany (Slovak Republic). We determined for all samples the range for the weight of fruits (521.50–12744.70 g), length of fruits (85.00–285.00 mm), width of fruits (114.00–320.00 mm), exocarp thickness on the left side (0.10–4.86 mm), exocarp thickness on the right side (0.33–4.56 mm), pericarp thickness on the left side (9.13–57.02 mm), pericarp thickness on the right side (9.77–46.05 mm), placenta weight (89.00 –870.00 g), fresh seed weight (17.30–638.50 g), seed weight after drying (4.53–187.36 g), seed length (12.91–24.00 mm), seed diameter (6.56–14.41 mm), seed thickness (0.41–3.62 mm), the weight of one thousand seeds (15.41–475.66 g). The results document that in our collections there are plants suitable for the next cultivation, and further selective improvement. In practice, only seeds of the ESO variety are used for oil production. The percentage of the weight of the seeds from the total weight of the fruits is only 3–4%. Other parts of the fruit remain in the field after harvesting. After their decomposition and ploughing into the soil, they improve the physico-chemical properties of the soil. However, the results of the experiments confirm that many parts of the fruit, such as the pulp and the placenta, are important raw material sources for use in the food industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other areas. When growing butter pumpkin in large areas, it is also possible to collect and use flowers and young – unripe fruits from the plants during the growing season in the food industry and other areas.