Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

F. Bavec, L. Gril, S. Grobelnik-Mlakar and M. Bavec:

Seedlings of oil pumpkins as an alternative to seed sowing: yield and production costs

Summary

The effects of direct sowing, sowing pre-germinated seeds, and transplantations of seedlings of oil pumpkins (cv. Gleisdorfer Öilkurbis) on growth, yield and production costs were compared in three years of field experiments. Seeds were sown in plug trays on April 29 and May 1 and then the seedlings were transplanted on the sowing date of experiment (May 16). Plants that developed from transplanted seedlings were luxuriant and produced more and larger fruits than those grown from direct sowing. The seed yield obtained from transplants was significantly higher (3.35 kg 20 m-2) than that obtained from direct sowing (2.06 kg 20 m-2) and pre-germinated seeds (2.54 kg 20 m-2). The break-even price per kg seed yield from direct sowing (0.98 EUR kg-1 seed yield) was lower than the costs from transplanted seedlings (1.20 EUR kg-1) where the profit ha-1 was higher. Key words: oil pumpkin, seed, sowing, seedling, yield, costs.