Sensitivity of some oil squash varieties against pre-emergence herbicides

In field crops yield safety is highly influenced by the number of weeds. Weed control gets special importance in oil squash (Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca) since it has poor competition ability against weeds. Pre-emergent herbicides are important tools in the early prevention of weed competition. The effect of pre-emergent herbicides on the growth parameters of some oil squash varieties have been tested in a green house pot experiment. In the experiment the effect of three herbicides AFALON DISPERSION (a.i. linuron), DUAL GOLD 960 EC (s-metolachlor) and MALORAN 50 WP (chlorbromuron) were tested. There were three oil squash varieties in the experiment: Gleisdorfer, Szentesi futo and Szentesi oliva. Growth characteristics were examined as follows: shoot length, number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry weight of stem and leaves. Statistical analysis was done by the SPSS software Herbicide treatments had different effects on the three varieties. At the early stage of development especially varieties with different growth characteristic showed different response. The dry shoot weight of the Gleisdorfer variety decreased significantly due to the herbicide treatments. The Afalon Dispersion treatment reduced the dry matter weight of the stem, the Dual Gold 960 EC and the Maloran 50 WP treatments effected more the dry matter weight of the leaves. The Szentesi oliva gave the highest tolerance to the herbicide treatments. Results show the different sensitivity of varieties to herbicides which may help to choose the proper ones in weed control.