Abstract This study was performed to screen out the various species of ‘Cucurbitaceae’ family, musk melon (Kalash and Durga), bottle gourd (Crystal Long and Nuefield) and squash (Green Round, and Squash Malika) against the salt stress. All genotypes were treated with five different levels of NaCl (T0 = control, T1 = 1.5 dS m-1, T2 = 3.0 dS m-1, T3 = 4.5 dS m-1 and T4 = 6.0 dS m-1) and half strength of Hoagland’s nutrients solution as the base nutrient solution. Results showed that the bottle gourd varieties “Nuefield” and “Crystal Long” performed best by maintaining the highest germination (93.2% and 85.6%), number of leaves per plant (4.5 and 5.7), shoot length (16.84 cm and 16.14 cm), root length (13.48 cm and 13.00 cm), plant fresh weight (942.2 g and 918.6 g), plant dry weight (118.4 g and 107.5 g), leaf area (171.2 cm2 and 169.1 cm2), chlorophyll content (3.5 μg/cm-2 and 3.4 μg/cm-2) with low chloride (1.57 ppm and 1.59 ppm) and sodium content (0.47 ppm and 0.51 ppm) under salt stress followed by varieties of Squash (Green Round, and Squash Malika) and musk melon (Kalash and Durga). It was also found that a higher level of salinity (4.5 dS m-1 and 6.0 dS m-1) has more adverse effects on the performance of all selected genotypes. Conclusively, it can be recommended that as compared to all tested species, bottle gourd varieties “Nuefield” and “Crystal Long” have the ability to withstand against salinity stress and should be planted under salt stress conditions.

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition of the seed, pulp, flesh, and peel of spaghetti squash (SS) in order to assess its nutritional and health benefits. Results showed that several of the following nutrients were found in significant amounts in different parts of SS: fat, protein, amino acids like cystine, vitamins, and mineral elements like selenium in the seeds; vitamin C and trigonelline in the flesh; and calcium and tartronic acid in the peel. Analysis of the index of nutritional quality for Ca, P, K, Na, Fe, Zn, VA, VB1, VB2, VC, non-fiber carbohydrate, protein, fat, and dietary fiber revealed that the SS seed, pulp, flesh, and peel are excellent sources of protein, dietary fiber, vitamin C, and minerals. The seed was a source of several nutritional components that could improve the growth and development in children, the flesh contained components that help to maintain blood glucose stability and assist hypoglycemic function, and the peel contributes calcium and weight-loss products to help increase bone density and reduce weigh respectively. These results suggest that spaghetti squash makes a source of valuable nutraceuticals.

ABSTRACT Salinity is a growing problem worldwide and techniques are needed to mitigate this problem. Field experiments were conducted to explore the effects of optimum N management (NM) on growth, antioxidant ability and yield performance of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in medium saline soil in the coastal area of Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, China, during 2016 and 2017. A salt tolerant rice genotype Nangeng 9108 and N fertilizer including urea (300 kg N ha-1) were used, six levels of NM were arranged (base:tillering:panicle initiation fertilizers = 0:8:2 (T1), 0:6:4 (T2), 0:4:6 (T3), 5.6:2.4:2.0 (T4), 4.2:1.8:4.0 (T5), and 2.8:1.2:6.0 (T6), respectively). NM significantly affected plant growth, antioxidant traits, yield and yield components of rice in saline soil. On average, grain yield, panicles and spikelets per panicles were prominently higher under treatments of applied basal fertilizer (TABF; T4, T5 and T6) than treatments of non-applied basal fertilizer (TNBF; T1, T2 and T3). The TABF produced a yield advantaged of 39.7% and 54.4% over TNBF in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Bigger panicles were formed under TABF, mean spikelets per panicle was 15.7% higher than TNBF in 2016 and 20.0% in 2017. The T5 produced the highest dry weight, grain yield, panicles, spikelets per panicle, activities of catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, soluble protein, soluble sugar and sucrose at each growth period. However, the highest grain filling percentage showed under T4 had 82% and 81% advantages in each year. These results suggest that applied basal fertilizer can enhance salt tolerance and grain yield of rice, and appropriate N management can alleviate salt stress and increase grain yield.