Abstract:
Growing salad cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in protected houses has gained popularity and the
use of training and pruning techniques has become essential for optimizing fruit set, development
and quality of the produce. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the effect of different vine
training techniques on the growth and yield of salad cucumber (Variety. Hanyan- CU13502)
grown in protected house conditions. Completely Randomized Design was used to design the
experiment with six replicates and each replicate comprised three plants. Two treatments; onestem
training and two-stem training were compared to control, the common vine training
technique used by farmers. Albert’s fertilizer solution was used as a main fertilizer at 1.5g/L rate.
Growth and yield parameters were gathered during vegetative and reproductive stages. Fresh
fruits were graded according to the three levels; yield suitable for export market, local market and
non-marketable yield based on the weight and the fruit appearance. Statistical analysis was
conducted using ANOVA with SAS software and the mean separation was done using Dunnett’s
test. The number of leaves varied significantly between the two stem treatments and the control.
A significant variation was observed in the length of the internode between 14 and 15 for both
treatments compared to the control. The total number of fruits and average yield per plant were
not significantly different between treatments and control. Similarly, treatments did not influence
the appearance of the fruits hence the fruit grading. Since the two training systems did not show
any significant difference for measured parameters compared to control treatment, it can be
suggested that all three techniques are equally affect crop growth and yield under the
experimental conditions. Based on the cost and benefit, higher labor cost is required in practicing
control treatment as it requires periodic tracking and coiling down the vine. On the other hand,
one- and two-stem training methods carries a significant risk as damages to the vine's foliage
could cause the entire production cycle to abruptly collapse. Thus, the control treatment that
removes foliage continuously and tracking and coiling down the vine can facilitate new fruiting
sites and leaves. These three vine training treatments can sometimes result in notable yields
with different varieties of cucumber. Therefore, further studies are needed to make a solid
conclusion.
