Impact of vine training techniques on growth and yield of salad cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in protected house conditions.

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.