Influence of Nutrient Management Practices on Growth, Flowering and Yield Attributes of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at AICRP on Vegetable Crops, operating under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India during summer season of 2017 and 2018 to find out the impact of various nutrient management practices on growth, yield attributes and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Twelve nutrient management practices such as, T1 (Absolute Control), T2 (RDF through Fertilizer (100:60:60 NPK ha-1), T3 (½ RDF + Biofertilizer consortia (BF) i.e., Azospirillum, Azotobacter and PSB @ 4 kg ha-1 in 1:1:1), T4 (Vermicompost @ 4 tha-1), T5 (VC @ 2 tha-1+ BFs), T6 (½ RDF + VC @ 2 tha-1+ BFs), T7 (RDF+ VC @ 2 tha-1+ Biofertilizer consortia), T8 (FYM @ 20 tha-1), T9 (FYM @ 10 tha-1+ BFs), T10 (½ RDF + FYM @ 10 tha-1+ BFs), T11 (RDF+ FYM @ 10 tha-1+ BFs) and T12 (½ RDF + FYM @ 10 tha-1 + VC @ 2 tha-1+ BFs), were evaluated by adopting RBD replicated thrice. The pooled results over two years revealed significant variations among the nutrient management practices for all the characters under study. Invariably, INM practices recorded significantly better vegetative growth, earliness in flowering, fruit yield and yield attributing parameters over inorganic, organic sources, BFs and absolute control. The results revealed integrated application of ½ RDF+FYM @ 10tha-1+VC @ 2tha-1+BFs recorded significantly higher maximum vegetative growth parameters (i.e., vine length of 296.4 m with 4.1 primary branches vine-1), induced earliness in flowering (i.e., days to appearance of male flowers : 30.2, days to appearance of female flowers : 31.7, sex ratio of : 12.8, fruit yield attributing parameters (i.e., fruit girth : 15.0 cm, fruits vine-1 : 8.6, days to 1st fruit harvest : 45.3), days to final harvest : 80.1, yield i.e., marketable yield (12.6 kg plot-1, 156.0 q ha-1, 15.6 tha-1) and total fruit yield (13.9 kg plot-1, 172.2 q ha-1, 17.2 tha-1 ). Thus it may be concluded that integrated application of nutrients from inorganic, organic with soil inoculation of biofertilizer consortia not only increased significantly increased growth, flowering and fruit yield in cucumber.

Challenges and Opportunities in Biofertilizer Commercialization

“…Biofertilizers, comprising beneficial microbial inoculants like rhizobacteria and mycorrhizal fungi, are vital in soil nutrient cycling and mineralization [69,70]. Farmers can secure a consistent nutrient supply to crops when biofertilizers are integrated into INM-a strategy that judiciously combines organic and inorganic fertilizers.…”