Abstract
The plant growth regulator 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethephon) was applied to summer squash to determine its effects on the flowering pattern. Treatments with all pistillate flowers pruned at anthesis, with and without ethephon applications were also compared to control plants to investigate the factors regulating flowering and fruit set of summer squash. It was found that plants in the pruned treatments had a greater carbohydrate accumulation than plants in the non pruned treatments, indicating that carbohydrate accumulation may be inversely associated with fruit development. Ethephon treatments produced more pistillate flowers per plant but also had a large number of aborted flowers. Thus, the potential of ethephon to increase yield has not been fully realized because the plant cannot support the added fruit. Another observation noted was the production of hermaphroditic flowers on a monoecious summer squash cultivar. These flowers were produced when the effect of the ethephon on the plant was diminishing. Also, flowering and yield exhibited a cyclic pattern throughout the season, but no correlation was found to exist between flowering and/or yield and any plant nutrient content (carbohydrate, nitrate, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen).
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Pruned plants accumulated more carbohydrate than non-pruned plants.
Verbatim
e0“plants in the pruned treatments had a greater carbohydrate accumulation than plants in the non pruned treatments”
t0“Summer Squash”
Claim · model-written summary
Carbohydrate accumulation may be inversely associated with fruit development.
Verbatim
e0“carbohydrate accumulation may be inversely associated with fruit development.”
t0“Summer Squash”
Claim · model-written summary
Ethephon increased pistillate flowers per plant.
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Ethephon treatments produced more pistillate flowers per plant”
t0“Summer Squash”
Claim · model-written summary
Ethephon treatments had many aborted flowers.
Verbatim
e0“Ethephon treatments produced more pistillate flowers per plant but also had a large number of aborted flowers.”
t0“Summer Squash”
Claim · model-written summary
A monoecious squash cultivar produced hermaphroditic flowers.
Verbatim
e0“Another observation noted was the production of hermaphroditic flowers on a monoecious summer squash cultivar.”
t0“Summer Squash”
Claim · model-written summary
Flowering and yield followed a cyclic pattern throughout the season.
Verbatim
e0“flowering and yield exhibited a cyclic pattern throughout the season”
t0“Summer Squash”
Claim · model-written summary
Flowering and yield showed no correlation with measured plant nutrients.
- Taxon
- summer squasht0
- Compound
- carbohydrate, nitrate, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogene0
- Outcome
- flowering and/or yielde0
Not reportedDirection
Verbatim
e0“no correlation was found to exist between flowering and/or yield and any plant nutrient content (carbohydrate, nitrate, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen).”
t0“Summer Squash”
The same questions in other papers
(2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid · phenology · Cucurbita (pumpkins)Results agree
7 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
4 papers more in this group
See all 8 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.