Effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, flowering and yield attributes of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Abstract

The present experiment was conducted on cucumber with using various INM treatments during the summer season of year 2018 to find out the effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, flowering and yield attributes of cucumber. Total ten treatments were tried in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Out of these an application of 75% RDF + 12.5% FYM + 12.5% VC ha-1 had a beneficial effect on growth parameters like maximum vine length (137.70 cm), number of leaves plant-1 (97.80), maximum number of primary branches plant-1 (8.50), maximum length and width of leaf i.e. 16.20 cm and 17.70 cm. flowering parameters viz. minimum days to first flower formation (37.80), minimum number of days to first male and female flower formation i.e. 39.70 and 44.57, lowest number of male flowers plant-1 (52.20), maximum number of female flowers plant-1 (27.70), lowest sex ratio (1.90) and yield and yield attributing characters like minimum days taken to first fruit formation (53.40), maximum number of fruits plant-1 (8.35), length of fruit (20.20 cm), width of fruit (4.38 cm), weight of fruit (161.50 g), maximum fruit yield plant-1 (1.34 kg), fruit yield plot-1 (8.04 kg), highest fruit yield (148.88 q ha-1), maximum TSS of edible fruit (4.11 0Brix) and peel thickness( 1.33 cm) as compared to control. Similarly, maximum net return (Rs. 66747 ha-1) and cost benefit ratio (2.27) were also found in the treatment 75% RDF + 12.5% FYM + 12.5% VC ha-1.