Abstract

Mohsen Jahan, Alireza Koocheki, Reza Ghorbani*, Mehdi Nassiri and Mohammad. D. Salari

Squash (Cucurbitapepo L.) is an important oil seed and medicinal plant which produces unsaturated fatty acids, cosmetic medicine and health products. In order to study the effects of different cattle manure levels and branch management methods on organic production of Summer squash, two field experiments were conducted during years 2005 and 2006. Treatments consisted of four manure levels (10, 15, 20, 25 t ha-1 ) and two branch management methods (with and without wood pole), which were allocated to main plots and subplots, respectively. Results showed that branch management method without wood pole was more efficient than with wood pole. Increasing manure level had significant effect on fruit and seed yields; however, these traits were not significantly affected by manure levels residual effect at the second year. There were no differences in the number of seeds per plant due to manure levels in either year. Seed oil content slightly increased when manure level increased from 10 to 25 t ha-1 . This researchindicated that application of 20 t ha-1 cattle manure with no-chemical fertilizer is an appropriate method for organic production of Summer squash which produce greater yield with high seed oil contents.