The research was conducted on hybrid Squash (Nancy F1) at Tishreen University in
the growing season of spring 2013 in order to study the effect of ground covering and low
tunnels on the early production of squash. The study consisted of four experi
mental
treatments: the control (without covering) and three covering treatments (ground covering
using black mulch, ground covering with a low plastic tunnel, and a low plastic tunnel
without ground covering). The completely randomized design was used with three
replications per treatment and ten plants per replication. The results showed that the
covering with a low plastic tunnel was superior to other treatments, resulting in a clear
increase in female flowers, the ratio of female flowers to the total flowers, fruit number,
and plant production. The results also showed a strong positive correlation between the
plant production and the number of female flowers (r=0.999), the number of fruit per plant
(r=0.999), the ratio of female flowers to the total flowers (r=0.990) and the total number of
flowers (0.995). The correlation with male flowers was however negative (r=-0.954).
