Productivity of a collection of butternut squash in villa Mercedes, province of san Luis, using two planting systems

Abstract

Argentina faces challenges in optimising population diet for quantity and diversity of horticultural products, given that consumption is only a third of that recommended by the WHO and tending to decrease, and that only four species represent 70% of total consumption. With the objective of promoting the expansion of a promising crop, butternut squash, a completely randomised trial was initiated in San Luis, Argentina (33°39?29? S 65°28?82? W) between 8/12/2015 and 11/04/2016, aimed at evaluating the productivity (yield in kg.ha-1, plus units.ha-1) under two planting systems (transplanted pot-grown seedlings (MT) and direct drilling (SD)) at a plant density of 0.8 x 2.5 m, of the following collection of innovative cultivars from INTA-La Consulta: Dorado INTA-MAPO, Paquito-INTA, Cuyano-INTA, Frontera-INTA and Cokena-INTA, with the following results. MT gave 35% more units.ha-1 than SD (MT: 25524a and SD: 18905b) and 43.4% more yield (MT: 25476ª and SD: 17762b). The highest yielding genotypes were Frontera-INTA: 33013a, Cokena-INTA: 28957ab and Dorado-INTA-MAPO: 24015bc, whereas those producing the highest units.ha-1 were Frontera-INTA 26190a, Dorado-INTA-MAPO: 24047ab and Cuyano-INTA: 21905abc, followed by Cokena-INTA: 20119bc and Paquito-INTA: 18809c. Under MT, the highest yielding genotypes were Cokena-INTA: 37024a, Frontera-INTA: 36934a and Dorado-INTA-MAPO: 27348ª kg.ha-1, and the highest units.ha-1 were given by Frontera-INTA 29524ª, Dorado-INTA-MAPO: 26905ª and Cokena-INTA: 25476ª. Two of these high performers were the best under SD: Frontera-INTA: 29093a and Dorado-INTA-MAPO: 26683b kg.ha-1 and Frontera-INTA: 22857ª and Dorado-INTA: 21191a units.ha-1. In conclusion, the yield of Frontera-INTA and Cokena-INTA in San Luis was encouraging, especially under MT.