Effect of Exogenous Plant Hormones on Parthenocarpy and Fruit Quality in Tropical Squash (<i>Cucurbita moschata</i> L.)

Artificially occurring parthenocarpy can be induced by exogenous application of plant hormones and is useful in the fruit production many crops trees. In cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), a model species Cucurbitaceae family, auxin, gibberellin, cytokinin, brassinosteroids are known to induce parthenocarpy. tropical squash (Cucurbita moschata synthetic auxins parthenocarpy, but effects still unknown. addition, there few published reports on quality parthenocarpic fruits squash, these remain largely this study, we examined characterized hormones. First, evaluated set development unpollinated ‘Kogiku’, cultivar, treated with gibberellic acid (GA3), cytokinin-like substance, N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea (CPPU), brassinolide (BL). CPPU promoted GA3 BL did not, showing that cytokinin works as an important factor for squash. Next, investigated from ‘Kogiku’ 1-naphthylacetic (NAA), CPPU. Total soluble solids myo-inositol NAA-treated were higher than those pollinated fruits, whereas fructose glucose CPPU-treated significantly lower fruits. These results showed auxin had differing quality.