Abstract

The experiment was carried out at the College of Agriculture / University of Diyala during the spring season 2021-2022 to study the effectiveness of plant extracts of Dill (Anthum graveoleus L.), and Black caraway( Nigella sativa L.), and their mixture, on the germination characteristics of zucchini squash seeds.
The results showed a significant effect of plant extracts on the germination period, as the plants treated A2 and A3 excelled with the best germination period of 6.33 and 6.08 days, respectively. The plant extracts affected the percentage of germination, as the plants treated A2 and A3 excelled with the best percentage of germination of 68.0 and 63. 8%, respectively, and the plant extracts affected the speed of germination, as the plants outperformed the treatments A1, A2, A3, and A6, as the speed of germination for the treatments reached 6.6, 6.6, 6.7, 6.3, and 6.6 days/seed, respectively, and the plant extracts affected the uniformity of germination. The plants treated A3 excelled with the best germination uniformity of (0.38 seeds/day), and the duration of soaking the seeds had a significant effect as well. The plants treated B2 excelled with the best germination duration, which amounted to 5.79 days. The duration of soaking the seeds also had a significant effect, as the plants treated B2 excelled. The best germination percentage reached (51.3%) on the plants treated B1 and B3, as the percentage for each of them respectively reached 48.6 and 45.13. The duration of soaking the seeds had a significant effect as well, as the plants treated B2 excelled with the best germination speed of 7.11 days/seed, while the speed decreased. Germination in treatment B1 and B3, as the germination speed for each of them, respectively, was 6.4 and 6.0 days / seed. The duration of seed soaking also had a significant effect, as the B2 treated plants excelled with the best germination uniformity of (0.29 seeds/day).