Engenharia de Sistemas de Irrigação e Drenagem

Yield and Yield Components of Greenhouse Cucumber as Affected by irrigation Regimes and Growth Media

Abstract

MO Kareem*, AG Shaibu, M Samoura and IK Dzomeku

This research was carried out in a greenhouse located at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Nyankpala, Northern Region of Ghana from June to September, 2022. The study compared the yield obtainable with greenhouse cucumber grown on soil with cocopeat and soil - biochar mixture under irrigation regimes. The experiment was a 3 x 3 factorial study laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments consisted of irrigation regimes (100% ETc, 75% ETc, 50% ETc) and growth media including (Soil (So), Soil plus Charred rice husk (So + CRH) and Cocopeat (CP)). Data was collected on cucumber yield and yield parameters. The result of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed 100% ETc supported optimum yield of greenhouse cucumber. Flower count was highest for CP – grown plants irrigated at 100% ETc while the highest flower abortion occurred on plants grown on So + CRH at 75% ETc. Plants irrigated at 100% ETc gave the highest yield of 116.3 t/ha while those irrigated at 50% ETc gave the lowest yield of 37.8 t/ha. Yield obtained from plants irrigated at 75% ETc (70.6 t/ha) was similar to that obtained at 100% ETc; It is therefore recommended for greenhouse cucumber farmers in northern Ghana to irrigate at 75% ETc thereby saving water and optimizing yield. More work could be done on combination of CP and CRH for greenhouse cucumber production.