Horticultural Science and Technology ISSN:1226-8763(Print) 2465-8588(Online) 원예과학기술지

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the soil irrigation starting point on the growth and water use efficiency of cucumber at each growth stage in a greenhouse. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) ‘Chungchun’ grafting seedlings were transplanted on April 20, 2020 and cultivated until July 5, 2020 in a polyethylene greenhouse in Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do. Soil irrigation starting point using a tensiometer were treated in 10-10-10 (T1), 10-10-20 (T2), 20-10-10 (T3), 20-10-20 (T4), and a control. The total amounts of irrigation, growth, yield and water use efficiency were measured. The average daily soil water tension (kPa) was 8.3 for T1, 9.2 for T2, 10.7 for T3, 10.2 for T4, and 5.9 for the control. The total amount of irrigation supplied was from 53,322 mL (T1) to 59,206 mL (T4), there was no difference between treatments. The average daily irrigation amount per plant was 773 mL (T1), 787 mL (T2), 780 mL (T3), and 858 mL (T4). The total number and intervals of the irrigations were not different from 86 times (T3) to 99 times (T1) and 0.7days. In the control, the daily average amount of irrigation was 1,525 mL, and the total number of irrigations was 50. In the control, the average amount of irrigation was twice that of the treatments (T1, T2, T3, and T4), and the number of irrigations was reduced by more than 40%. On the 43rd day of treatment, plant height, number of nodes, leaf width, and number of leaves were highest in the control, and the lowest plant height was in T3 and T4 treatments. There was no significant difference in chlorophyll content (SPAD value). Marketable number of fruit and yields was highest in the T2 treatment, and showed differences according to harvest time. The water use efficiency (g·L^-1) of cucumbers produced in 1L irrigation was T2 (45.1g) > T1 (33.5g), T3 (31.9g) > T4 (28.9g) > control (23.7g). These results indicate 10 (growing period)- 10 (harvesting period)- 20kPa (late harvesting period) as a suitable starting point of soil irrigation tension for cucumbers in spring cultivation.