Efecto de dos coberturas vegetales en el desarrollo y rendimiento del cultivo de zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) cv. Black Beauty

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to determine the effect of two living mulches on the development of a zucchini (Cucurbita pepo cv. Black Beauty) crop under open field conditions of Cuenca. The experiment was carried out at the Yanuncay Campus of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Cuenca. Two treatments were detected for any of the soil variables evaluated. However, significant differences among treatments were detected for the yield per plant and number of leaves. In general, the living mulch of spontaneous vegetation was more similar to types of living mulches were evaluated: a) spontaneous vegetation cut to 5 cm high and b) clover cut to 5 cm; these two living mulches were compared against a control treatment without any type of mulch and periodical mechanical weeding. The experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with 5 replicates. At the end of the experiment no significant differences among the unmulched clean control treatment than the clover living mulch treatment. The clover living mulch reduced significantly the yield of the zucchini plants