Soilless Media and Fertigation for Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse Production of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) cv Green Long

Field experiments were conducted using different soilless media with drip fertigation at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India during spring - summer (November - May) seasons for 2 years (2004–2006) to evaluate the economic feasibility of soilless media in combination with drip fertigation levels for a cucumber variety Green Long. The effect of growth and yield with soilless media were studied on biometric and yield responses. The results of soil either alone or conjunction with soilless media were compared with drip fertigation in terms of growth and yield of the crop. There were nine different media levels and two fertigation levels with 18 treatment combination replicated twice. The treatment of peat: vermicompost: sand (T₂F₁) was found to have a positive influence on plant height, flower characters, and yield per hectare in greenhouse as well as open field cultivation as compared to other soilless media. The highest yield (113.89 t/ha) was registered in T₂F₁ (peat: vermicompost: sand) under naturally ventilated polyhouse and yield per hectare and the highest yield (96.11 t ha⁻¹) was registered in T₂F₁ (peat: vermicompost: sand) in open field cultivation. A yield increase of 18.45% was observed with the cucumber grown in greenhouse under the treatment of T₂F₁. The benefit-cost ratio (3.43) was found to be highest for peat: vermicompost: sand with 100% drip fertigation under greenhouse.