View of CULTIVATION OF CUCUMBER UNDER GREEN HOUSE CONDITION

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal, ISSN NO. 2456-1037

Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

Vol. 06, Special Issue 01, (IC-RCOVID19) April 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 105 CULTIVATION OF CUCUMBER UNDER GREEN HOUSE CONDITION

Vishram Singh Pal¹ and Anshu Pal²

1Head of Department, School of Agriculture, Renaissance University, Indore ²Assistant Professor, School of Agriculture, Renaissance University, Indore 1 INTRODUCTION

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is one amongst the popular vegetable crops grown broadly throughout the globe. it is a subtropical plant and grows best under conditions of heat, humidity, and light intensity and with an uninterrupted supply of water and nutrients.

Under favourable and stable environmental and nutritional conditions and when pests are in check, the plants grow speedily and produce heavily.

2 GROWING TIPS – POLY HOUSE CUCUMBER

These hybrids are parthenocarpic and have excellent eating qualities withcrispy texture and long storability. The fruits are dark green in colour and theideal size for the market would be of 15 cm length.

Soil: Well drained loamy to sandy loam soil having a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 is bestsuited.

Sowing season: Kharif and rabi seasons in the plains and kharif and summer on the hills.

Seed Rate: 400 g /acre Ideal plant population: 3.20 plants / sq. m.

Nursery: Soak the seeds overnight before sowing. Sow the soaked seeds in plug trays with coco-peatand while sowing take care to place the seeds with the pointed end facing downward. Place the seedsat a depth of around 1 cm and keep the top covered with paper or thin gunny cloth after sprinklingwater, for two days until the sprouts are visible. Water the plug trays gently with rose can every day.

Grown up seedlings have to be transferred to the main poly-house / shade-net house on 13th or 14^thday. Cultivation of cucumbers is recommended in poly-house or under net-house to avoid suckingpests, viral diseases and scorching sun.

Preparation of the beds and planting: Raised beds should be prepared from thoroughly loosened soilafter mixing with FYM / Compost. Neem cake can also be applied along with FYM. The basal dose offertilizers should be mixed and incorporated to the beds. Each raised bed should be of 1 m width andthe space between two beds should be 0.60 m. Make the top of the beds wet one day before sowing.On the flattened beds the seedlings can be planted in two lines at a spacing of 0.50 m. Seedlings onthese lines are to be planted in zig-zag manner at a distance of 0.50 m from plant to plant on the sameline.

Cultural Operations: The support system can be either made of tubes / sticks / bambooor made by tying steel wires with peg support. The horizontal support has to be fixed ata height of around 2 m and as the plants grow the vines should be trained towards thissupport. For training the vines, gunny threads can be used.

Pinching: Train the plants towards the support system and up to a height of 1 m allowonly one main stem for each plant. Keep pinching the side shoots until the main stemreaches 1m. After a height of 1 m allow all the side shoots to grow and again pinch offthe growing tips of all the side shoots after two nodes. This way maximum yield anduniform sized fruits can be obtained from the plants.

3 DESIGN THE PLANTS ON ONE VERTICAL MAIN STEM BY PRUNING:

1. For very strong vigour Varieties:From soil until 100 cm – all the branches to be cut after 1-2 internodes.100cm until the end- each branch with 2-3 internodes.

2. For low vigour and spring/summer: 0.50 cm on main stem- all branches 2 internodes0.50 cm end of main stem- No need to prune because do not develop.

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 06, Special Issue 01, (IC-RCOVID19) April 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 106 In general: All the fruits that develop on 1-3 internodes of main stem should beremoved as flowers because they are short, light coloured, ripped and misshaped. This gives the plants strength.

Irrigation: Depending on the soil and temperature conditions, irrigate the field such that the root zone does notget too dry for long. Provide light irrigation for every alternate day but never flood the field.

Chemical Fertilizers: Application of Fertilizers doses varies with soil fertility. The recommended dose is 60:80:80 NPKKg/acre. 1/3rd of this should be applied as Basal dose before planting.

3.1 Fertilizers Application:

 200 kg/acre Potassium Chloride

 600/acre Super Phosphate

 Top dressing is to be done after the first picking: 25:0:60 NPK kg/acre.

 After third picking: 25:0:0 NPK/acre.

 Apply micronutrient as and when required.

 Basal dose before sowing: – 2 bags of DAP + 20 kg of Muriate of Potash (MOP)

 1st top dressing 25 days after sowing: 2 bags of CAN + 20 kg of MOP

 2nd top dressing 45 days after sowing: 2 bags of CAN + 20 kg of MOP

 Chemical Fertilizers: Fertilizer application varies with soil fertility.

 Total requirement of the crop is 90:50:100 Kg NPK /acre.

 Basal dose before sowing: 30:35:30 NPK Kg/acre, add 20 -25 kg Mg.So4

 20-25days after sowing: 15:15:30 NPK Kg/acre

 40 days after sowing: 15:00:15 NPK Kg/acre

 Spray Calcium nitrate OR Potassium nitrate @ 2g per litre of water after 35th, 45th, 55th and 65 days aftersowing.

3.2 Major Diseases / Insect Pests:

Downy Mildew: Good earth up and remove lower leaves touching the ground, which helps inminimizing the humidity. Use prophylactic spray. Give light irrigation but never flood the field to avoiddeveloping the humidity.

Powdery Mildew: Use recommended chemicals.

Fusarium Wilt: Avoid continuous gherkin / cucumber cultivation in the same field. Drench the plant with recommended chemical.

Virus complex (CMV, PRSV, ZYMV): Follow management practices: Control insect vectors (Aphids,thrips) by spraying insecticides. Collect and destroy the virus infected plant.

Leaf miner, Fruit flies, Thrips, Aphids, Mites: Spray recommended chemicals as per your processing company spray schedule.

Plant Protection: Follow the plant protection measures as recommended below and when required:

Downey mildew is serious in cucumbers under poly-house and maximum care should be taken toprevent this.

For organic way of growing the crop, to supply sufficient nutrients to the plants, at least 30 tons of well

Decomposed compost or FYM should be applied to the soil two months prior to sowing.

Two to three quintals of neem cake can also be mixed along with this. The field should be cultivated so that thecompost gets mixed well with the soil. Before sowing, the land has to be cultivated again to loosen thesoil. Vermi-compost can be applied to the furrows and be

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Vol. 06, Special Issue 01, (IC-RCOVID19) April 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 107 covered with loose soil, before sowing. Mostof the insect pests can be kept at bay by spraying neem extract / oil by mixing with spreading agents.

Harvesting: The fruits of around 15cm length would be ideal for market.Harvesting of the first fruit would start around 35-38 days after transplantingand with good agronomy the plants would continue to yield for almost 2-2 ½months. On an average, these hybrids have the potential to yield 3.50 to 4 kilos of fruits per plant under ideal growing conditions.