Biostimulants for the zucchini setting

Biostimulants for the zucchini setting that increase quality and production by minimizing the use of hormones

* Avoid fruit malformation

* Influence on flowering and fertility

* Minimizing the use of hormones

* Greener and brighter fruits

The process of fruit setting in zucchini cultivation is especially complicated compared to other horticultural crops because the opening and development of male and female flowers do not coincide. Male flowers usually appear earlier.

As this is a crucial phase to achieve an abundant and quality harvest, farmers often resort to hormonal treatments to induce the development of fruits.

However, both the social demand and the evolution in the regulation of products are increasingly directed at trying to dispense with any chemical in plant foods, thus prioritizing the use of natural processes and substances. The market requires minimizing the use of hormones and synthetic products.

In this context, the use of specialized biostimulants for the zucchini setting and even their combination with hormonal treatments in low proportions has been shown an efficient alternative to obtain high productivity and, most importantly, quality. Kynetic4 is one of the biostimulants that achieve high levels of fruit setting with top quality crops.

Biostimulants for the zucchini setting that avoid fruit malformation

A bad process of zucchini setting can produce malformations in the fruits such as the so-called sucking, crooked or low-developed fruits.

Crooked fruits: 

Zucchinis that bend by the centre due to a bad setting of the fruit

Low-developed fruits:

Fruits that stop their development in an early stage and that finally abort. Possible causes are depletion of the plant, lack of vegetative vigor or phytosanitary treatments.

Sucked fruits: 

Fruits that do not develop evenly and are usually sucked by the apical limb. Precisely this defect has been traditionally attributed to hormonal treatment; However, there is a conjunction of factors that can provoke it, since it usually occurs in the moments of plant stress (scarcity or excess humidity, dry winds, abrupt climatological changes or phytosanitary treatments). When pollination is natural, the fruit is better able to withstand stress, and this problem does not occur.

Products for the zucchini setting that give the plant the energy boost it needs to overcome situations of plant stress are fundamental to avoid any type of malformations of the fruits.

Influence on flowering and fertility of biostimulants for the zucchini setting

Since the development of the male and female flowers of the zucchini crop do not match, it is very important to achieve sufficient quantities of flowers and, more importantly, with abundant pollen and high fertility. If a natural pollination is carried out, this allows the pollinating insects to carry out their work more successfully.

Specialized biostimulants such as Kynetic4 are specially designed to increase flowering, pollen fertility and fruit setting levels. In addition, it is an essential solution to deal with all types of plant stress conditions.

Biostimulants for zucchini setting: Minimizing the use of hormones

The constant demand for increased yields and quality of crops and the need to reduce the use of hormones led SEIPASA to be involved in studies aimed at the organic activation of plants in the cultivation of zucchini decreasing the use of hormonal products. The Kynetic4 biostimulant was used for this purpose.

In the trial about the effect of Kynetic4 on zucchini quality, fruit set and yield four different treatments were proposed: T1, corresponding to the usual application of two hormones (ANA + ANA amide); T2, with the application in irrigation of Kynetic4; T3, with the foliar application of Kynetic4; and, finally, T4, which consists of combined applications of the hormone and KYNETIC4, reducing the amount of hormone used in T1 by almost 60%.

According to the results of the study, it is possible to reduce the use of hormonal products (T4) up to 60%, increasing the average weight of the marketable fruit with respect to the single use of hormones. (Graphic 1)

There is also a significant improvement in the quality of the harvest: In the crop with combined application (T4), a higher quantity of fruits of the first quality and less amount of second and ‘rejects’ were obtained. (Graphic 2)

Greener and brighter fruits with KYNETIC4, biostimulant for the zucchini setting

Regarding the organoleptic parameters analyzed, the resulting data confirm the obtaining of greener and lighter fruits with the combined use of Kynetic4 and ANA + ANA amide.