EFFECTS OF PRE- AND POST-EMERGENCE SALT TREATMENT ON SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDICINAL PUMPKIN (CUCURBITA PEPO CONVAR. PEPO VAR. STYRIACA)

The seeds of medicinal pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo convar. pepo var. styriaca) contain fatty oil, -sitosterol and E-vitamin as active substances that are used to cure prostatic hypertrophy and urinary tract irritation.
The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of increasing salinity on the leaf content of proline and chlorophylls (a, b and total chlorophyll) oil content of seeds of medicinal pumpkin.
The salt treatments (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 g/l NaCl) were applied in pre-emergence form (at the time of seed sowing) and as a post-emergence treatment (from four leaf stage) and were maintained every 8 days until the fruit set stage.
The leaf proline content was highest in the plants getting 10 g/l of NaCl: it was 79.48 μg/l.
The highest amount of a, b and total chlorophylls accumulated in the plants that received 2.5 g/l NaCl in both pre-, and post-emergence forms of investigations.
The oil content of seeds was the highest when 2.5 g/l NaCl salt was applied in pre-emergence form.

International Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Possibilities and Limitations of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Production in the 21st Century

H. Aroiee, R. Omidbaigi

salinity, leaf proline, fatty oil, chlorophylls

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.576.36