Evaluating Morphological Growth, Yield, and Postharvest Fruit Quality of Cucumber ( Cucumis Sativus L.) Grafted on Cucurbitaceous Rootstocks

Waqas Aslam, Rana Shahzad Noor, Fiaz Hussain, Muhammad Ameen, Saif Ullah and Hong Chen
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Waqas Aslam: College of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Rana Shahzad Noor: Department of Agriculture, Biological, Environment and Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Fiaz Hussain: Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan
Muhammad Ameen: College of Engineering, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing 210031, China
Saif Ullah: College of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Hong Chen: College of Economics and Management, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Grafting is a substitute technique to boost tolerance against abiotic stresses, which also diminish root syndromes from soil-borne pathogens and increase crop production. This piloted study evaluates the tongue grafting technique and investigates the influence of grafting hybrid cucumber (Kalam F 1 ) scion onto local cucurbitaceous and hybrid rootstocks on plant morphology, fruit yield, nutrients concentration in different plant organs, and postharvest fruit quality during three seasons of 2017 to 2019, consecutively. The research design was completely randomized (CRD), and the effects of grafted rootstocks were determined with comparison of percent plant survival, growth characteristics, fruit yield, and texture properties (during storage). The experimental results indicated that all rootstocks presented compatibility with hybrid cucumber (Kalam F 1 ) scion and showed significant comparable performance with hybrid rootstock during all seasons in terms of vegetative growth, yield, and storage except pumpkin (68% during the 1st, 74% during the 2nd, and 71% during the 3rd seasons). The plants with Bottle gourd ( Lagrenaria siceraria ) rootstock showed the highest survival rate as compared to all other cucurbitaceous and hybrid rootstocks during three seasons: 94%, 98%, and 93%, respectively. Similarly, the other factors such as plant height (613, 622, and 615 cm), fruit weight (282, 281, and 277 g), fruit shape index (7.77, 8.18, and 8.25), Total soluble solids (TSS) (5.1%, 5.17%, and 4.96%), fruit dry matter (4.55%, 4.625, and 4.57%), fruit yield (4.37, 4.9, and 3.95 kg/plant), and disease resistance index (<3) during three seasons were comparable with all other cucurbitaceous and hybrid rootstocks. The lower survival rate of pumpkin rootstock made a significant poor performance with lower growth, yield, nutrients, and storage than all other cucurbitaceous rootstocks. Ridge and Bitter gourds showed improved results for vegetative growth, yield, fruit characteristics, nutritional values, and storage performance than that of hybrid cucumber rootstock. The fruit textural and physical properties were found significantly better at 10 °C than 25 °C for 10 days of storage without quality deterioration, while no impact was perceived on physical properties of the fruit. According to economic analysis, the grafted cucumber production system showed higher net return and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) in comparison with the real rooted hybrid cucumber production system, which was assumed to be profitable practice.

Keywords: hybrid cucumber; tongue grafting; vegetative and fruit characteristics; plant nutrient concentration; storage performance; textural physical properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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