A COMPARISON STUDY OF VARIOUS MULCHES ON GROWTHAND YIELD OF SUMMER SQUASHA.R. Reddy, U. Tripura, M. Srivastava, R. Kumar and V. KumarAbstract Mulching is being widely utilized for production of various crops worldwide and it has a great impact oncrop growth and yield. In this regard, the present investigation was carried out to determine the effects ofvarious mulch materials on growth and yield of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) during, 2021 inAgricultural fields of Lovely Professional University, Punjab. Different mulch materials viz., compost, dryleaves, paddy straw, saw dust, sugarcane trash, black polyethylene mulch, transparent mulch and withoutmulch as control were used for the investigation. Among the different mulches, black polyethylene mulchrecorded significantly highest plant height, number of leaves per plant, plant spread and days to 50%female flower. Correspondingly, the highest yield attributes viz., average fruit length, average fruit width,average fruit weight and number of fruits per plant with the highest yield per plant (3.82 kg), yield per plot(68.14 kg) and total fruit yield (27.25 t ha-1) were recorded by black polyethylene mulch compare to thecontrol. Based on the study, it is revealed that black polyethylene mulch is the most eco-friendly methodfor growing and developing of summer squash. |