ISHS Acta Horticulturae 492: I International Symposium on Cucurbits
THE EFFECTS OF RE-USING DIFFERENT SUBSTRATES ON THE YIELD AND EARLINESS OF CUCUMBER ON AUTUMN GROWING PERIOD |
| Authors: | G. ÇELIKEL, G. ÇAGLAR |
| Keywords: | Cucumber, soilless culture, growing substrates, re-using |
| Abstract:
This study was conducted to investigate re-using possibilities of different used substrates and compare them with unused (new) substrates, as aids to solving soil-originated problems and spreading soilless culture which is a new technique for vegetable growing to grower conditions with reduced costs. Different substrates such as volcanic tuff(vt), spent mushroom compost (smc) and peat (p) or their mixtures which had been used in tomato growing at previous years were used in the autumn cucumber culture. The highest yield was obtained on two-year used p+smc+vt substrate (a ratio of 1:1:1) with 8.55kg/m2, followed by three-year used and unused p+smc+vt (a ratio of 1:1:1) substrates with 7.50 kg/m2 and 7.42 kg/m2, respectively. The lowest yield was obtained on soil with 3.40 kg/m2. In terms of earliness, best result was obtained with two year used p+smc+ vt substrates with 3.23 kg/m2, the lowest earlines yield was obtained on soil with 0.65 kg/m2. Other properties such as total fruit number, mean fruit weight, mean fruit length-diameter, nutrient contents of the leaves, and the physical and chemical contents of substrates are presented at the article in detail. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
