ISHS Acta Horticulturae 819: International Symposium on Growing Media 2007
RESPONSE OF CUCUMBERS GROWN ON TWO SUBSTRATES IN AN OPEN SOILLESS SYSTEM TO INOCULATION WITH MICROORGANISMS |
| Authors: | M.E. Abdelaziz, R. Pokluda |
| Keywords: | Cucumis sativus, rockwool, coarse peat, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Glomus, growth, chemical composition, yield |
| Abstract:
Many studies report the inoculation of roots of higher plants with the N-fixing bacteria Azotobacter spp. or Azospirillum spp. These bacteria are important in increasing N uptake by plants, and play a significant role in promoting growth in rooting media. Cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus L. ‘Passandra’ and ‘Girola’) were inoculated with two series of N-fixing bacteria (Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillum brasilense) and Glomus mosseae fungus. Plants were on rockwool and coarse peat substrates in an open soilless system. The experimental design was split-plot with three replicates. The number of leaves, total leaf area and total yield were significantly higher for plants grown on coarse peat (38.8, 3.7 m2 and 17.4 kg.m-2, respectively) than those grown on rockwool (33.2 and 2.9 m2 and 15.7 kg.m-2, respectively). The concentration of nitrogen in leaves was significantly higher in the plants grown on rockwool. Inoculation with microorganisms did not affect P and total yield, but early yields were significantly increased (1.7 kg.m-2) in the case of inoculation with A. brasilense, alone or combined with G. mosseae, compared to the control (1.4 kg.m-2). Inoculation with A. chroococcum alone increased K concentrations in leaves, while the combined inoculation of A. chroococcum and G. mosseae increased N concentration in fruit tissues. It seems that inoculated plants grown on coarse peat in open soilless systems could play a positive economic role in vegetable production under protected culture. | |
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