Stamper, M.A. 1988.

Growth, carbohydrate con-

tent and yield of sweet pepper plants (Capsicum
annuum L.) as affected by clipping, growth reg-
ulators, temperature regimes and carbon diox-
ide levels. MS Thesis, Dept. of Horticulture
and Landscape Architecture, Univ. of Ken-
tucky, Lexington.

Fig. 6. Typical increase in chamber set point and corresponding chamber temperature as the light
intensity increased from 0 (sunrise) to 400 µmol·m -2·s-1 on a winter morning.

H ORT S CIENCE 26(8):1051-1053. 1991.

Effect of Sowing Dates, Temperatures Israel, and its market is expanding. Since the
fruit has a long shelf life and retains its dec-
orative appeal for many months at room tem-
on Germination, Flowering, and Yield perature, it can be developed into a decorative
vegetable (Joy, 1987). Moreover, if its fla-
of Cucumis metuliferus vor is improved it may also have potential
as a new vegetable crop.
A. Benzioni, S. Mendlinger, and M. Ventura Conditions for successful germination and
The Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the effect of sowing dates on crop develop-
ment were studied in a series of experiments
P.O.B 1025, Beer-Sheva 84110 Israel designed to identify cultivation practices
useful for economic production.
S. Huyskens Germination. Percentage and rate of ger-
Obst- und Gemüsebau Institut der Universitiät Bonn, Germany mination were examined at 8, 12, 20, 25,
Additional index words. cucurbitaceae, crop production, brackish water, horned 35, 40, and 45C. Ten seeds were placed be-
cucumber, melano, kiwano tween two layers of wet cotton in petri dishes
(85-mm diameter) in each of two dishes per
Abstract. Seed germination, growth, flowering, and yields of Cucumis metuliferus treatment. The seeds used were prepared from
Mey. were examined in several seasons and conditions in the northern Negev, Israel. ripe fruits grown for these experiments. After
Germination was optimal between 20 and 35C. Germination was delayed at 12C, totally separation from the jelly, seeds were stored
inhibited at SC, and greatly inhibited above 35C. Salinity increased the time required at room temperature for 6 months because
for full germination. Plants sown in mid-March set fruit in mid-May and gave a higher preliminary tests indicated that aging for
yield of export-quality fruits than plants sown in mid-April, which set fruit normally several months improved germination (A.B.
but produced a large proportion of small (<200 g) fruits. Plants sown in June did not and S.M., unpublished). Germination was
flower until October. C. metuliferus sown in a greenhouse on three dates in October scored daily by root emergence for 24 days.
and November developed very slowly during the cold months and leaves were chlorotic; Germination under saline conditions (0, 20,
however, fast growth and development resumed in the spring and high yields were 50, and 80 mM NaCl) was examined at 30C
eventually achieved. using the same protocol but with 15 seeds
per dish.
Cucumis metuliferus (African horned cu- the local population (Bruecher, 1977; Keith Date of planting experiment. Seeds were
cumber, kiwano, melano) is endemic to the and Renew, 1975). The plant is a monoe- sown on sandy loess at the Sha’ar Hanegev
semi-arid regions of southern and central Af- cious, climbing annual with staminate flow- Experimental Station (northern Negev, Is-
rica, where it is eaten as a supplement by ers typically appearing several days before rael) on 15 Mar., 15 Apr., and 3 June 1988
pistillate flowers. The ellipsoid fruit is bright at a density of 10,000 plants/ha. The exper-
yellow-orange when mature and shaped like imental design consisted of a Latin square
Received for publication 22 June 1990. This work a short, stout cucumber with many blunt with three treatments. The field was divided
was supported by the GIARA program file no. thorns on its surface. The mesocarp is green into nine rows on raised beds, each 2 × 54
864393. We gratefully acknowledge the excellent
and consists of juicy, bland-tasting tissue. m (width/length). Three rows constituted one
technical work of S. Avni. The cost of publishing
this paper was defrayed in part by the payment of Parthenocarpic fruits are produced when block and each row was partitioned into three
page charges. Under postal regulations, this paper temperatures are low (A.B. and S.M., un- sections 18 m long, each sown at one of the
therefore must be hereby marked advertisement published). C. metuliferus is grown as an three dates. The middle row of each block
solely to indicate this fact. ornamental fruit in New Zealand, Kenya, and was used for yield and fruit quality analyses.

HORT SCIENCE, VOL. 26(8), AUGUST 1991 1051

Fig. 1. Air temperature 1.5 m above the plants
(A) and soil temperature at a depth of 15 cm Fig. 2. Height of plants in the greenhouse during
(B) in the greenhouse, 1988/1989. the first period of growth (n = 15).

Table 1. Percentage germination of C. metuli- (≥220 g) or small (< 200 g).

ferus seeds at eight temperatures and four NaCl
concentrations.” Greenhouse production. C. metuliferus
seeds were sown in three raised beds on 27
Oct. and 16 or 26, Nov. 1988 in a polyeth-
ylene-covered greenhouse at the Sha’ar Ha- Fig. 3. Pattern of emergence of staminate (A)
negev Experimental Station. Each bed was and pistillate flowers (B) as affected by sowing
2 × 30 m (width/length) and was supplied dates (n= 15).
with a single line of drippers delivering 2
liter·h -1 and spaced 0.5 m apart. The green-
house was divided in a randomized block age of plants sown on 15 Mar. covered the
design into three equal sections sown on dif- beds in ≈ 6 weeks. The first pistillate flowers
ferent dates. Culture practices were the same were observed on 10 May, and fruits reached
as those used for melons grown in green- color break 8 weeks later. Vines of plants
houses in the area. Minimum and maximum sown on the second date (15 Apr.) covered
air temperature and soil temperature at 0800 the beds only after 10 weeks, although here
and 1430 HR were recorded daily (Fig. 1). too pistillate flowers appeared after 8 weeks;
The height of the main stem of five plants fruit development was slower, and although
per replicate was measured weekly until the the number of fruits per area was similar
plants became too entangled for measure- (271·10 3 vs. 245·103 for the March plant-
ment, i.e., 4 to 5 months after emergence. ing), many fruits were smaller (Table 2). In-
Open staminate and pistillate flowers were complete pollination, the development of
counted weekly on the same five plants per parthenocarpic fruits, or altered sink-source
sowing date. Fruits were harvested when ripe relations may be responsible for the small
Irrigation was supplied by a single drip (at color break), and fruit yield and number fruit sizes recorded under high temperatures
line running down the middle of each row were determined in a 5-m2 area in each row. (lo-day mean maxima of 30 to 35C and min-
with 2-liter·h-1 drippers spaced 0.5 m apart. Fruits were graded as large (≥200 g) or small ima of 18 to 23C). The plants sown on 3
The field was irrigated twice a week with (<200 g). June failed to grow well and by the end of
amounts calculated to replenish 40% of eva- Germination. In the 20 to 35C range, ger- the experiment in October had neither cov-
potranspiration measured by a type A pan mination was completed (95% to 100%) in ered the beds nor flowered. The plants of the
until first flower stage and 80% thereafter. 3 to 8 days (Table 1). At 12C, germination March sowing yielded >46 Mg of fruits/ha
Cultural measures (fertigation and disease and commenced at day 16, reaching 90% on day (Table 2). More than 60% of these fruits
pest control schedules) were similar to the 24; at 8C it was completely inhibited. At were large (≥200 g) and would command
local practice for melons. Fertilizer cubes (3 very high temperatures (40 and 45C), per- premium prices in the market (Joy, 1987).
chicken : 1 cow manure) were preplant in- centage germination was greatly reduced rel- The yield for the second sowing date was 28
corporated at 2 Mg·ha-1 . A single harvest ative to the optimum range, although enough Mg·ha -1 , of which only 25% consisted of
when almost all fruits were ripe (after color seeds germinated to indicate possible genetic fruits classified as large; nearly half the fruits
break, i.e., when skin shifts from dark green variation for heat tolerance (Table 1). Up to were very small and of noncommercial size
to pale yellow) was carried out 30 June and a level of 50 mM NaCl, germination under (Table 2).
16 Sept. for the first and second sowing dates, different temperatures and salinities fol- In the greenhouse experiment, seedlings
respectively. The plants from seeds sown in lowed a threshold model in respect to time. emerged on 2 and 20 Nov., and 20 Dec.,
June were not harvested as they failed to At 80 mM NaCl, germination was slow, respectively, for the three sowing dates (27
produce fruit before October, when the ex- reaching 100% only after 24 days, and fol- Oct.; 16 and 26 Nov.). In the October sow-
periment was terminated. At each harvest, a lowed a linear regression model (r = ing, plants grew well as long as air minima
10-m 2 plot was chosen in each bed and all 0.979***, df = 10). remained > 9C and soil minima > 15C (first
fruits were harvested and graded as large In the planting date experiment, the foli- 6 weeks), but when temperatures fell, growth

1052 H ORT S CIENCE , VO L. 26(8), AUGUST 1991

Table 2. Fruit size, fruit number, and yield of C. metuliferus at several sowing dates in the field tor, as associated environmental conditions
(expt. I) or in the greenhouse (expt. II). influence emergence, growth, flowering, and
fruit number and size.
The best time for sowing C. metuliferus
in the northern Negev region was mid-March
to early April. It may be worthwhile to ex-
periment with planting seedlings prepared in
a controlled greenhouse in February and the
beginning of August, to enable arrival of fruit
on the market at an earlier date. However,
in the northern Negev, very late sowing in
autumn or winter, when minimum temper-
atures are low, is not recommended even un-
der plastic cover, as it results in a longer
and development almost ceased and leaves A few pistillate flowers were produced growing season.
began to yellow and dry out. Rapid plant during the winter months in plants from the
growth was resumed when minimum air October sowing (Fig. 3B), but in the No-
temperatures rose >9C, and henceforth vember sowing they emerged only when the Literature Cited
growth was rapid (Fig. 2). Plants sown in weather grew warmer. Total number of fruit, Bruecher, H. 1977. Cucurbitaceae. Tropische Nu-
mid-November also ceased to grow and de- the percentage of marketable fruits, and yield tzpflanzen. Springer Verlag, Berlin. p. 258-297.
velop with the onset of low night tempera- were highest in the early November sowing
Joy, C. 1987. Selected European markets for trop-
tures ( < 9C) in December, but, as in the earlier (Table 3). ical fruit and vegetables. Rpt. Trop. Dev. Res.
planting, plants recovered quickly once min- In conclusion, it appears that C. metuli- Inst., London G 201, p. 95.
imum temperatures for growth were reached. ferus has a high yield and high pest and dis-
Plants sown in late November barely grew ease resistance (Provvidenti and Robinson, Keith, M.E. and A. Renew. 1975. Notes on some
before March. Staminate flowers emerged 1974), decorative appeal, and long shelf life, edible wild plants found in the Kalahari. Kal-
after ≈ 110 days in the October sowing and which should help it carve out a lucrative ahari Gemsbok. Park. Koedoe 18:1-12.
after 100 days in the November sowings; market. The crop could successfully be grown Provvidenti, R. and R. Robinson, 1974. Resis-
however, because they were sown earlier, in Israel, and likely similar areas, using cul- tance to squash mosaic virus and watermelon
plants sown in October were the first to flower tural practices current for muskmelon (C. melo mosaic virus in Cucumis metuliferus. Plant Dis.
(Fig. 3 A,B). L.). However, sowing date is a critical fac- Rpt. 58:735-738.

HORT SCIENCE , VOL. 26(8), AUGUST 1991 1053