TABLE 3.

Effects of shading and light quality on SPAD index and CIELab colorimetric parameters of zucchini squash (C. pepo), watermelon (C. lanatus), tomato (S. lycopersicum), and eggplant (S. melongena) seedlings.

Crop	Treatment	SPAD index	L*	a*	b*
	No shading	41.102 ± 0.564	45.861 ± 0.308a	−16.977 ± 0.272	24.034 ± 0.346a
Zucchini squash	Black net	41.593 ± 0.483	42.325 ± 0.368b	−16.017 ± 0.126	21.625 ± 0.189b
	Blue net	42.212 ± 0.054	41.576 ± 0.380b	−16.248 ± 0.366	21.469 ± 0.255b
	Significance	ns	***	ns	***
	No shading	47.733 ± 0.044b	47.459 ± 0.056a	−15.696 ± 0.056b	24.374 ± 0.107a
Watermelon	Black net	47.421 ± 0.061b	46.935 ± 0.134b	−14.850 ± 0.104a	21.779 ± 0.146b
	Blue net	48.932 ± 0.128a	46.475 ± 0.092c	−14.797 ± 0.023a	21.245 ± 0.018c
	Significance	***	***	***	***
	No shading	43.369 ± 0.477a	47.749 ± 0.202b	−15.596 ± 0.085a	25.400 ± 0.211b
Tomato	Black net	37.055 ± 0.486b	49.749 ± 0.172a	−17.784 ± 0.035c	30.038 ± 0.080a
	Blue net	37.157 ± 0.127b	49.943 ± 0.061a	−17.405 ± 0.059b	29.895 ± 0.044a
	Significance	***	***	***	***
	No shading	39.955 ± 0.068a	44.750 ± 0.236b	−13.294 ± 0.129a	21.855 ± 0.178b
Eggplant	Black net	37.336 ± 0.075b	45.848 ± 0.078a	−15.623 ± 0.018c	25.464 ± 0.693a
	Blue net	36.352 ± 0.087c	43.879 ± 0.122c	−14.301 ± 0.122b	22.203 ± 0.064b
	Significance	***	***	***	**

Different letters within columns indicate significant mean differences according to Tukey’s HSD test (p = 0.05). ns, **, and*** denote non-significant or significant effects at p ≤ 0.01 and 0.001, respectively. Data are mean values ± standard error, n = 3.