Influence of Training on Vegetative Growth Characteristics and Yield of Polyhouse Grown Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Aims: To study the influence of various training techniques on vegetative growth characteristics and yield of cucumber grown under protected cultivation.

Study Design: Randomized Block Design with three replications.

Place and Duration of Study: Research farm, Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture, CSK HPKV, Palampur during spring summer season 2016.

Methodology: The experiment consists of seven different training methods. The observations were recorded viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, days to first harvest, fruit weight (g), number of fruits/plant, fruit yield/plant (kg), harvest duration (days), inter-nodal length (cm) and vine length (m). Observations were recorded from 5 plants chosen at random in each replication and then average was worked out for each parameter.

Results: Treatment comprised of single stem (T1) recorded least number of days to 50 per cent flowering (23.67), minimum days to first picking (35.00 days), highest fruit weight (136.23 g), harvest duration (56.00 days), vine length (2.26 m) and minimum inter nodal length (9.34 cm) which was statistically similar with treatment comprising of single stem with side shoot training after 3 leaves (T2) to all these characters respectively. Whereas the treatment comprised of three stems with side shoot training after 3 leaves (T6) obtained maximum number of fruits/plant (28.23) which was significantly superior to all other treatments and maximum fruit yield/m2 area (8.27 kg) which was statistically at par with treatment comprising of three stems (T5).

Conclusion: It was concluded that plants trained to single stem had better vegetative characters but plants trained to three stems with side shoot training after three leaves had higher yield/m2 area.