Evaluation and Selection of Suitable Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchense) Types for the Black Sea Region, Turkey

Abstract

Winter squash (Cucurbita maxima Duchense) and pumpkins (Cucurbita moschata Duchense) are one of the most important Cucurbit vegetable crops in Turkey. This study was carried out in the Black Sea region of Turkey between 2005 and 2008 years. The objective was to develop new pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchense) cultivar candidates. In the first year, 22 pumpkin populations were collected from different ecogeographical areas in this region. Two pumpkin accessions were obtained from the pumpkin collection preserved at the Turkish seed genebank (AARI). All genotypes were examined with respect to morphological characteristics. In addition, physical, chemical and sensual analyses were carried out for the pumpkin being used as a dessert. From the observations, 4 types were evaluated as superior using a weighting based ranking method. At the end of this research, 1 genotype (14BO01) was selected as being promising for further breeding efforts.