Vol. 12, Issue 2 (2023)

Author(s):
Pankaj Sharma, BP Bisen, Akhilesh Tiwari and HK Rai

Abstract:
The experiment was conducted at Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse (VRC) at Maharajpur, Department of Horticulture, JNKVV, Jabalpur during the years 2020–21. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications comprising of 18 treatment combinations. Data analysis statistically indicated that among the treatments, the highest vine length (202.33 cm), earliest 33.03 days to flower initiation, earliest 36.06 days to attain 50% flowering, and more number of 75.33 flowers per plant, Early days to first picking (38.74 days) and last picking (88.40 DAS) of fruits and fresh fruit weight (190.18 g) were noted when the crop was grown under the treatment combination Mulch+ 10 g Hydrogel + 25% moisture depletion (T₁₈). Higher number of 35.67 fruits per vine was registered under T₁₇-Mulch+ 10 g Hydrogel + 50% Moisture depletion. Cucumber plants possessing fruits with maximum length (19.45 cm) and diameter (5.55 cm) along with higher fruit yield 5.44 kg per vine and fruit yield 725.20 q/ha were observed when the fruits were harvested from treatment combination consisting of Mulch+ 10 g Hydrogel + 25% moisture depletion (T₁₈). Thus from the findings, it was confined that when cucumber is grown under treatment with mulch, 10 g Hydrogel + 25% moisture depletion showed profound morpho-phenological attributes and yielded better.