Introduction, production technology, intercultural operation, pest, diseases and case study

1. Protected Cultivation of Cucumber
Submitted by
S.ADHIYAMAAN (2017603401)
I-M.Sc. VEGETABLE SCIENCE
DEPT. OF VEGETABLE CROPS
HC & RI, TNAU, CBE.- 641 003

2.  Cucumber - open fields - grown summer and rainy season
 During winter season, this crop cannot be grown under open field
conditions
 Its grown early in spring or early summer – high market value
 1% increase in volume of international trade (cucumber and
gherkin) increase the demand from India by 5.96% (Nalini Ranjan
Kumar et al., 2008)
 Potential increase in sale prices of the crop if produced either earlier or
later
 Suitability of the crop to season extender production systems
Introduction Net return= 22.5 lk/ha

3. Soil and climate
• Optimum temperature is 14°C to 20°C
• Cucumber requires comparatively mild climate
than melons
• Best result at pH of 5.5 to 6.8 and well drained
soil is necessary for cucumber cultivation

4. Relative humidity
85% is optimum - hygrometer for optimum level maintance
(female flower induction)
High humidity increase leaf diseases - botrytis and powdery
mildew and the plants can also be too bushy

5. Nursery
Seedlings are raised in plastic pro-trays having 1.5" cell size in
soil-less media in month of December or January
 28-32 days old seedlings at four leaf stage are transplanted
from mid January to mid February
Nursery of these crops can be also be raised even in polythene
bags under very simple and low cost protected structures like
walk-in tunnels as per the need of the area

6. Nursery raising
 Seed germination 26-280
C ,
 Until root establishment 250
C; subsequently 210
C at
night and 23-250
C during day
 In production house - average of 210
C
 The seedlings are ready for transplanting within 35 -
42 day (5-6 weeks)
 Seed rate is 500 gm / ha
 Cost of one seed is Rs. 6

7. Growing bed
Transplanting of the seedlings is done in raised
beds - a single row
Beds of 90 cm width with walk space of 30 cm
On each bed at a planting distance of 40 cm
between plants and row to row is 120 cm

8. Disinfecting the growing beds
• Beds are drenched using 4% formaldehyde (4 lit/m2
) of the bed
and covered with polyethylene sheet
• Care should be taken to wear mask, gloves and apron to avoid
direct contact with formaldehyde fumes
• Four days after formaldehyde treatment, the polyethylene cover
removed, the beds are raked repeatedly every day

9. Application of neem cake and Trichoderma
• Neem cake is slightly watered to moisten and kept for two days,
and then it is mixed with Trichoderma formulation at the rate of
1 kg/100kg neem cake
• Mixture is closed with plastic sheet and turned thoroughly on
alternate days
• After 15 days, the neem cake + Trichoderma formulation will be
ready for application
• Neem cake plus Trichoderma formulation is applied before
planting but after formaldehyde fumes are exhausted completely
@ of 200 g/ m2

10. GENOTypes
Long types
Miniature types
1. Normal cucumber : Thorn is present in surface. e.g:Japanese long green
2. Long cucumber : No thron is present. e.g : CO 1,Arka sheetal
Gherkin cucumber

11. 1. Higher yield
2. Fruits : 12-20 inches long
3. Slightly wrinkled surface
4. Uniformly green, thin
skinned
5. Short neck at the stem end
Such fruits are consumed
without peeling.
 These varieties generally produce :

12.  Muhansan and Dinar(for winter season)
 Mustang and Bronoco (for spring crop)
 Kian, Alamir and Nun-9729, Satis and Nun-3019.
 Multi star (Jan sowing), Valley star (June sowing)
 The important parthenocarpic varieties available in India
are Satis, Alamir, Nun-9729, Nun-3019, Kian, Falcon
Star, Full Star, King Star, Silzen, Fadia and Hilton
 Pusa Sanyog- 1st
gynoecious F1 Hybrid in India in 1971.
Gynoecious type

13. Monoecious type
 Japanese Long Green
 Straight eight
 Priya
 Poinsette
 Monoecious varieties available in India can be grown inside the
greenhouses, but pollination is required for fruit setting. Honey
bees are, therefore, necessary.

14. Popular Genotypes
 Indem 10 : 20-22 cm long light green vegetable
 Testi : Semi oval green fruit (150-200 g).35-40 days for fruit set.
 Indam 302 : Intermediate light green fruit.55 days for first fruit set.
 Snow white: Cyclinderical size. White colour fruit.35 days for first fruit
set.Long shelf life.
 N.S.45 : Cyclinderical size.Green colour,lenght :25-50 cm,weight : 180-200
g.
 N.S.46 : Cyclinderical size,white colour,intermediate shape.
 Malini:First harvest at 45 days,length: 19-22 cm,light green colour,higher
yield.
 Padmini : First harvest at 40 days.length:20-22 cm,green colour.
 Rohini:Dark green colour.
 Sedona : Intermediate,small throng fruit,45 days for first fruit development.

15. Japanese Long Green (IARI Regional station, Katrain)
Temperate cultivar
Extra early 45 days maturity
Fruits 30-40cm long, flesh light green, crisp
Straight eight (IARI Regional station, Katrain)
Early cultivar for hills
White spined, fruit medium long, thick, straight with round end
Colour medium green
Genotypes

16. Pusa Sanyog (Japanese gynoecious line x Green Long Naples)
Fruit 28-30 cm long, cylindrical and dark green with yellow stripes, crisp
flesh
Maturity 50 days
Poinsette
American introduction
Fruits dark green, 20-25 cm long
Resistance to downy mildew, powdery mildew, anthracnose and angular leaf
spot

17. NS 499
Gynoecious parthenocarpic hybrid with 3-5 fruits per node
Fruits medium long (16-19cm), attractive, slightly ribbed and
dark green
Tolerant to powdery mildew
NS 404
Early, fruits are light green scattered specks
20-22cm in length
200-220g – fruit weight
Cylindrical, crispy with slow seed maturity
good yielder

18. Indam 302
Medium long, light green fruits
Highly tolerant to mildews and leaf spots
Matures in about 55 days from planting
Snow white
Uniform cylindrical, medium sized white fruit
Size - 5.0 width and length is 17 cm , weighing 250 gm.
Excellent keeping quality
Very high yielding
Matures in 35 days after planting

19. BSS-784
1st
picking: 40-45 days
Fruit colour: green with white stripes
Fruit shape: thin long
Fruit length: 20-24 cm
Sucking pest tolerant
BSS-715
1st
picking: 40-45 days
Fruit colour: whitish green
Fruit shape: thin
Fruit length: 18 - 20 cm
Good quality and high yield

20. Pant Parthenocarpic Cucumber 2
Pant Parthenocarpic Cucumber 3

21. PRUNING AND TRAINING

22.  Many melon cultivars produce extensive vine growth.
 Pruning the vines may be necessary if the melons are trellised.
 Pruning is performed to achieve a balance between vine growth
and fruit set.
 Pruning increases average fruit weight while reducing the number
of unmarketable (cull) fruit.
 Retain the primary stem and one of the first laterals while pruning
all additional laterals up to and including the eighth leaf node.
Pruning

23. Pruning
All secondary branches after the eighth node
can be left unpruned on the plant.
This method of pruning permits the vine to be
easily trellised either by a nylon net trellis or
by using strings and vine clips
Prune off any misshapen fruit or fruit that was
not pollinated.

24. Pruning and Training

25. Trellising
Training to grow vertically is referred to as
trellising.
Trellising improves light interception by the crop
canopy, makes harvest easier, improves
pollination and reduces damage to the vines
during harvest.
 Trellising is necessary since this vines will over
run other plants if not trained.

26. Types of trellises- Drape system
• Using a trellis with a plastic (nylon) net (15 x 18 cm openings)
that is 6 feet high is a suitable trellis for pruned and unpruned
vines.
• The trellis must be supported by a tensile wire, which runs
parallel to the row and slightly higher than the trellis.
•This wire can be secured to
the frame of the high tunnel
or attached to posts at each
end of the row.
•The mesh trellis is in turn
secured to the wire.

27.  The vines gradually grow up the trellis, using their
tendrils to cling to the mesh trellis, but they will require
training to keep the growth vertical. Assume the static
load on the wire will be about 4.5 to 5.5 kg per linear
foot.
Types of trellises- Drape system

28. Its an option when each vine has been pruned to one or
two stems.
Tie a length of nylon twine to a tensile wire 7 to 8 feet of
the ground and secure it to the ground using anchor pins.
The primary stem of the plant is secured to the twine
using plastic vine clips. As the vine continues to grow, it
is clipped to the vertical twine.
If the vine grows taller than the height of the trellis, it
can be trained from the top down on another length of
twine.
Another form of trellis

29. Another form of trellis

30. Trellising increases marketable yields of high tunnel melons

31. Cucumber cultivation in GH

32. Pollination
Most of greenhouse cultivars are
parthenocarpic
Gynoecious types are preferred
Pollination should be avoided (seed
formation, distorted fruit shape, bitter
taste)
GH Cucumber are gynoecious - These can not be grown in open
field as natural pollination may result into bitter fruits which in
turn becomes club shaped at the blossom end and seed

33. Harvesting
 Fruits keep on developing as the plants grow and reach
harvestable stage in 10-14 days after flower opening.
 Time from transplanting to first harvest is generally 35-40
days in gynoecious cultivars of slicing types and 45-50 days
in monoecious varieties of cucumber.
 Fruit picking - continual process usually done 2 days
interval.
 Harvested fruits must be protected from desiccation and
bruising because the skin is rather tender and prone to water
loss.

34.  50 harvest in 140 days
 With good crop management of gynoecious cultivars, one
can harvest 200 tn/ha with one crop of 140 days duration.
Harvesting

35. PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS
 Cracking : Applying too much water.
 Curled fruits : 10 per cent of total fruit and can be caused by contact
with leaves,stems, tendrils, strings and wires. Fruit should be allowed to
hang freely.
 Crooked fruits : Cold weather, water logging, poor nutrition and thrips
can also result in bent fruit.
 Scarring : Fruit touching leaves and stems, or by hot or cold temperatures,
or by boron deficiency.
 Tapering : fruit can be caused by cold weather

36. Sun scald
Causes: High temperatures may cause scorching
Symptoms: Stunted new growth, burned or
brown lesions on foliage, necrotic areas on fruit
and flowers, or stem cankers
Control measure: Maintaining good vine growth
so the fruit is covered

37. PACKING
 Reject bent fruit and marked fruit. Wipe off sand and dust of
Continental fruit.
 Wash fruit and dip in a calcium hypochlorite solution which
contains 2 ppm chlorine to prevent fruit breakdown.
 Remove old flower parts at the end of the fruit.
 Fruit are packed about three times per week.
 To avoid condensation, cool the fruit to 7 to 13 °C before
wrapping.
 Shrink-wrap fruit of Continental varieties individually in
polythene film to increase their shelf life and enhance their
appearance.
 Lebanese cucumbers do not need to be wrapped.

38. Washing
Packaging
Grading

39. STORAGE
 Wrapped Continental cucumbers should be kept at 10 to 150
C
and 95% relative humidity for 1 to 2 weeks.
 Unwrapped fruit have a storage life of only 2 to 3 days.
 Do not store cucumbers with fruit that produce ethylene, such
as mangoes and bananas.This will produce yellowing and
spotting on the skins.

40. STORAGE

41. Plant Protection
Pests
Red pumpkin beetle (Gummadi Penku Purugu)
(Aulacophora spp.)
 Grubs damage the plants by boring into the roots. Beetle
injure the colyledons, flowers and foliage by biting holes
Control
 Spraying of Carbaryl 50% @ 3 g/lit. or Malathion 2ml/lit.
controls the pest effectively.

42. Fruit fly (Dacus cucurbitae and Dacus dorsalis)
 Maggots of this fly cause severe damage to young
developing fruits.
 The adult fly lays eggs below the skin of the young ovaries.
The eggs hatch into maggots which feed inside the fruits and
cause rotting.
 The fly attack is severe especially after summer rains when
the humidity is high.
Control:
 Foliar spray of Endosulfan @ 2ml/lit. thrice in 10 days
interval can be taken up.
 A mixture of 100 ml Malathion, 100 g Sugar or Jaggery in 10
litres of water can be used as bait and kept in plastic trays in
the field

43. Diseases
Powdery mildew (Budida Tegulu) (Erysiphe cichoracearum)
 A white powdery growth appears on the leaf surface mostly
confined to the upper surface but also found on the lower
surface and the stem.
 In severe infections the leaves and stem dryoff and further
growth of the plant is arrested.
Control
 Spray Dinocap @ 1 ml/lit. or Tridemorph @ 1 ml/lit. or Sulfex
0.2% or Calixin 0.1% or Karathane 0.2% or Bavistin @ 1g/lit
of water 2-3 times at 10 days interval.

44. Downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora cubensis)
Purple spots appear on lower surface and
yellow spots on upper surface of leaves.
Fruits do not mature.
Control
Spray Mancozeb @ 2.5 g/lit. or Metalaxyl M.Z
@ 2g/lit. or Dithane Z-78 0.2% i.e. 2g/lit of
water at 8-10 days interval.

45. References
 Singh D.K and K.V. Peter. (2013). Protected Cultivation of
Horticultural crops. New India Publishing Agency. New
Delhi.
 Swain S.C. (2014). Precision Farming in Horticulture
Approaches and Strategies. Narendra Publishing House.
New Delhi.
 Selvakumar R. (2014). A textbook of Glaustas
Olericulture. New Vishal Publications. New Delhi

46. Potentiality of greenhouse cucumber
cultivars for economic and
nutritional realization
SANJEEV KUMAR, CHAUDHARI VARSHA I, SN SARAVAIYA and DEV RAJ*
Department of Vegetable Science, *Department of Post Harvest Technology
ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University
Navsari 396450 Gujarat, India
International Journal of Farm Sciences 7(1): 1-7, 2017

47. INTRODUCTION
▪ Parthenocarpic cultivars has really revolutionized greenhouse cucumber
cultivation in India. (Sturtevant 1890)
▪ There is always a dilemma in the minds of farmers to select a particular cultivar
from big list of greenhouse cultivars floating in the market
▪ Therefore identification of potential cultivar for protected cultivation is of vital
importance.
▪ In India very little efforts have been made for identification of parthenocarpic
cultivars suited to different agroclimatic conditions.

48. MATERIAL and METHODS
▪ Place = NVPH of 2000 m2
at RHRS, Navsari. (12 m amsl)
▪ Time = July 2014
▪ Climate = high humid climate with high annual rainfall of 1600 to 2400 mm
▪ Design = RBD
▪ Replication = 3
▪ Spacing = (60 X 45) cm
▪ Genotypes = 16
▪ SAS = WASP-Web Agri Stat Package 2.0

49. Performance of GH cultivars for reproductive and vegetative parameters

50. Performance of GH cultivars for quality parameters

51. Performance of GH cultivars for yield parameters

52. Economic feasibility of greenhouse cucumber cultivars under NVPH

53. Conclusion
▪ Recorded variability for majority of vegetative, reproductive, quality
and yield parameters except days to first picking, fruit length and
diameter.
▪ Earliness depends on inter-nodal length not by first female flower
▪ Stability of parthenocarpy is very important
▪ Selection based on Fruit per vine followed by avg. fruit weight
(consumer prefer medium sized fruit)
▪ Growing fibre rich parthenocarpic cucumber under protected
conditions can improve the socio-economic and nutritional status of
farmers