Materials and methods
Approximately 80 kg of pumpkins of the species
C. moschata Duchesne ex. Poir ‘Menina Brasileira’
and C. maxima ‘Exposic¸a˜ o’ was harvested in the 2010
season (February–March) in different rural units in the
municipal districts of Curitibanos (2716¢58¢¢S,
5035¢04¢¢W, 987 m altitude) and Sa˜o Cristo´ va˜o do Sul
(2716¢00¢¢S, 5026¢26¢¢W, 1025 m altitude), Santa Catarina
state, Brazil. The pumpkins of the species
C. moschata ‘Menina Brasileira’ have a cream to light
orange colour with wide dark-green longitudinal stripes
on the exterior and an orange coloured pulp. Its
anatomy is divided into a slightly curved cylindrical
section and another enlarged bulb-like section at the
blossom end (Azevedo-Meleiro & Rodriguez-Amaya,
2007). The pumpkins that were analysed were approximately
45–65 cm long, 15–25 cm transverse diameter in
the cylindrical section and 25–35 cm transverse diameter
in the bulbous section. They weighed between 5.0 and
10.0 kg each. The C. maxima Duchesne ‘Exposic¸a˜ o’
pumpkins have orange coloured exterior and pulp and a
smooth surface with prominent ribbing. They are
spherical, but slightly flattened at both the stem and
the blossom ends, and they weigh between 2.0 and
5.0 kg each (Azevedo-Meleiro & Rodriguez-Amaya,
2007).