Growing vegetables
Karim Arabsalmani; Amirhooshang Jalali; Peyman Jafari
Abstract
Introduction
Cucumis sativus L. (2n=2x=14) originates from the south of the Himalayan mountains and has at least 3000 years of history of cultivation in India. According to the latest statistics published by the Ministry of Agriculture, about 75% of greenhouse production belongs to greenhouse cucumbers. ...
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Introduction
Cucumis sativus L. (2n=2x=14) originates from the south of the Himalayan mountains and has at least 3000 years of history of cultivation in India. According to the latest statistics published by the Ministry of Agriculture, about 75% of greenhouse production belongs to greenhouse cucumbers. This plant, with a cultivated area of 7539 ha-1 and a production amounting to 1923865 t year-1, is considered one of the most important vegetable and summer greenhouse products in the country. Cucumber varieties should have characteristics such as high yield, quality of taste, shelf life and resistance to diseases. Based on this, modified cultivars and imported cultivars must pass compatibility tests in order to be able to enter commercial fields. Recent research in Japan shows that by creating suitable conditions for various factors in the greenhouse (light distribution, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, irrigation, nutrition and pruning), the yield of greenhouse cucumbers can be up to 40 kg m-2 year-1 year. The difference between different varieties of cucumber is primarily due to characteristics such as the number of fruits per plant, fruit size (fruit length and length-to-diameter ratio) and fruit surface characteristics (the presence of grooves, surface smoothness, and fruit color). The number of cucumbers per plant is one of the most important yield components. The study of 9 varieties of cucumbers in greenhouse conditions showed that the range of changes in the number of cucumbers per plant varied from 19 to 54.3, and Khasib variety had the highest yield with the production of 14.9 kg of fresh weight per square meter.
Material and Methods
In order to compare the yield, yield components and some morpho-physiological characteristics of greenhouse cucumber hybrids produced in the country, a research was conducted in 2022 under greenhouse conditions in Varamin city. In this research, 11 greenhouse cucumber hybrids along with 4 regional control cultivars were evaluated in a completely randomized block design with three replications. The initial tillage including plowing, disc and soil disinfection was done through sunning the soil. The width of the seed planting bed was considered to be 70 cm in order to provide the possibility of two-row cultivation. The width of the corridors was considered to be 80 cm in order to provide proper ventilation and access of workers to the bushes for operations and harvest during the period. The drip irrigation system was chosen so that one tape strip could be used for each row of crops. The plant needed fertilizer during the growth period and was determined based on the soil test and provided to the plant through the irrigation system. Fruit yield for different harvests (once every 10 harvests) and total fresh fruit yield based on the total area of the plot (after removing the margins) and traits such as plant height (meters), internode length (cm), leaf length (cm), Leaf width (cm), petiole length (cm), fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (mm), number of fruits per plant and fruit weight per plant (grams) based on the selection of 10 plants per plot was taken. The fruit shape index was obtained from the ratio of the length to the diameter of the fruit. For the experimental hybrids, after harvest fruit color was determined by grouping (light green to green), (green), (green to dark green) and dark green.
Results and Discussion
Based on the obtained results, the hybrid (IR4) with a total fresh fruit yield of 11.49 kg m-2 had a significantly higher performance than other hybrids, but there is not a significant difference between this hybrid and the hybrid (IR5) with a fruit weight of 10.61 kg m-2. 10 harvested stages for two hybrids (IR4) and (IR5) constituted 24.6 and 22.9% of the total yield, respectively. The hybrids (IR11) and (IR6) had the longest and shortest fruit length with 16.60 cm and 11.12 cm, respectively. The fruit shape index (the ratio of fruit length to diameter) in hybrid (IR11) had the highest value (6.35). The hybrids (IR4) and (IR5) that produced the highest yields per hectare had the highest number of fruits plant-1 with 108.72 and 84.22 cucumbers plant-1, respectively. The presence of this number of fruits is one of the important factors for producing high yields in these two hybrids, and the number of fruits in the rest of the hybrids is often in the range of 50 to 70 cucumbers per plant. Although in some studies the number of 135 fruits plant-1 is also mentioned for greenhouse cucumbers, but in most cases this number is less than 50. The color of the fruit is also an important quality attribute that is very important in the cucumber market. This trait varies from light green to dark green. Hybrid (IR9) dark green, hybrids (IR2), (IR6), (IR13) (IR15) dark green to green, hybrids (IR1), (IR3), (IR4), (IR5), (IR12) and (IR14) was green and hybrids (IR7), (IR8), (IR10) and (IR11) had light green to green color. The superior performance of two experimental hybrids and the equal performance of 7 other experimental hybrids (out of 11 studied hybrids) compared to the control hybrids can be a good promise for the production of greenhouse cucumber hybrid varieties by domestic companies.
Growing vegetables
Karim Arabsalmani; Amirhooshang Hooshang Jalali; Peyman Jafari
Abstract
Introduction: Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a diploid plant (2n= 24). Eggplant cultivated as perennial in the tropics regions and grown as an annual in temperate areas According to the statistics of FAO, the area under eggplant cultivation in Iran were about to 21.3 thousand hectares, with an average ...
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Introduction: Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a diploid plant (2n= 24). Eggplant cultivated as perennial in the tropics regions and grown as an annual in temperate areas According to the statistics of FAO, the area under eggplant cultivation in Iran were about to 21.3 thousand hectares, with an average yield of 31.4 tons per hectare. Eggplants grow into large plants that causes too much plant canopy, so pruning the plant is a good way to reduce the number of branches, leaves and to increase fruit set. Normally, pruning is not done on the eggplant plant and only 2 plants per square meter could be grown in the field and also greenhouse conditions. However, pruning operations should be performed in greenhouse conditions and plants might be kept with 2 to 4 branches. A study was conducted to evaluate the best method of eggplant pruning in greenhouse conditions in the Netherlands and the plants were pruned into one or two branches. Plants were pruned again from the second branch in different cases including the first, third, sixth and ninth nodes. The results showed that severe pruning had a positive effect on plant conditions and fruitset was better in heavily pruned plants.Material and Methods: This experiment was conducted in 2018 and 2019 in greenhouse conditions in Varamin city. This area located 40 km from Tehran with an altitude of 1000 meters above sea level, an area of approximately 1500 square kilometers, longitude 50 degrees and 51 minutes, latitude 19 degrees and 35 minutes and the amount of first and second-degree agricultural lands 75 thousand Hectares. The average long-term annual rainfall is 120 mm, and the prevailing wind direction is southeast to northwest. The combined analysis based on a randomized complete block design experiment with three replications conducted and the treatments included three methods of plant pruning (two-branch, three-branch and four-branch). The seeds of Bellen variety planted in culture trays containing enriched peat moss and placed in an environment with a temperature of approximately 27 °C and relative humidity of 80%. After germination of seeds, the ambient temperature decreased to 24 °C during the day and 18 °C during the night. After the seedlings reached 3-4 leaves, they transferred to the main greenhouse. Pruning and guiding the plant on the scaffolding began with the first flower appearing on the meristem axis. All the male branches removed before the mentioned flower and the sub-branches branching from the main axis were allowed to grow above the first flower position. After data collection, data analyzed by SAS software and the means compared by Duncan test.Results and Discussion: The effect of year on yield and yield components of eggplant were not statistically significant (Duncan 5%). Effect of pruning treatments on yield components, number of fruits in the first cut and early maturity index at 5% level and on total yield, the total number of fruits and number of fruits per plant were also statistically significant at 1% level. Two-branch and four-branch pruning treatments were statistically superior to three-branch pruning treatments, but considering the yield in the first four harvests, two-branch pruning treatment with the production of 5.33 t ha-1, compared to two three-pruning treatments and four branches showed a significant increase. Earliness index of plants that pruning in two, three and four plant branches were 12.21, 9.5 and 8.83%, respectively. The total yield in three pruning treatments of two, three and four branches were 44.45, 46.67 and 49.87 t ha-1, respectively. The results showed that branch pruning had positive effects on eggplant yield and based on the purpose of the research, including early crop production or higher total performance, the type of pruning will be different. Examination of the correlation coefficients of the traits measured in the experiment also showed that the relationship between pruning (branch removal) and yield in both totals (0.69*) and the first four harvests (0.80**) was significant. The correlation between the number of branches and eggplant yield has reported in some other studies nevertheless in some studies has not the different relationship between performance and number of plant branches. In reviewing the performance and diversity of morphological traits of some local varieties of Iranian eggplant relationship between fruit yield and number of fruits per plant were positive and significant.
Karim Arabsalmani; Amirhooshang Jalali; Peyman Jafari
Abstract
Introduction: Cucumis melo L. is one of the most important horticultural products in Iran. According to some reports from the third millennium BC, it has been under cultivation in. High nutritional value and high vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron have made it to be a valuable ...
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Introduction: Cucumis melo L. is one of the most important horticultural products in Iran. According to some reports from the third millennium BC, it has been under cultivation in. High nutritional value and high vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron have made it to be a valuable fruit. According to the environmental conditions and cultivar, melon flowering began 30-60 days after planting and 30-70 days after pollination, the product can be harvested. Immature melon is tasteless and towards maturity, its sweetness increases. From the economic point of view, the minimum acceptable sweetness of melon's cultivars is 9% in terms of the total amount of fruit-soluble solids, but according to the vendors, this number should be 11% or more. The arid and semi-arid regions of the world are the main habitat for such products as melon and salinity stress as an integral part of these areas is an important factor for decreasing yield. The effect of salinity stress in melon's reproductive stage is somewhat more complex than other products, because some reports indicated a significant decrease in yield, number of fruit and weight of melon fruits in salinities greater than 2 dS m-1 and even some researchers determine the threshold of tolerance of 1 dS m-1. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of two salinity treatments on yield and yield components of three melon cultivars in Varamin province.
Materials and Methods: This research was carried out in 2013 using split plot design in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Varamin Agricultural Center located in 45 km Southeast East of Tehran (35 ° 35 ', 19', 51 ', 39') 1000 meters above sea level. Prior to the experiment, the first step was to prepare the soil including deep plowing and disc. The main plots consisted of irrigation water salinity treatments at 8 dS m-1 (prepared from the Ishraq area) and 2 dS m-1 (prepared from the Khaveh station). The subplots consisted of 3 Cantaloupe masses, including Semsoori Varamin, Green Tile of Mashhad and Magasie Neishabur. The soil of the place-tested sandy loam and the amounts of organic matter (in percent), acidity and salinity (in dS m-1) were 0.95, 7.5 and 2.1 respectively. Based on the soil test, 100 kg ha-1 phosphorus (triple superphosphate) and 150 kg ha-1 potassium (as potassium sulfate) and 150 kg ha-1 nitrogen fertilizer (urea before and after flowering) were added to the ground the experiment. The cultivation date was selected May 5th. The length and diameter of the flesh with the ruler and the percentage of fruit-soluble solids were measured using a refractometer based on 10 fruits, and then the mean of the obtained numbers was taken as the final value. Before harvest, the average number of fruits per plant and average fruit weight were measured and recorded based on the performance of sub plots and the middle lines of each plot. All soil and vegetation tests were carried out in the laboratory of the Soil and Water Research Department of Varamin Agricultural Research Center. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software and the meanings were compared with Duncan's method (5%).
Results and Discussion: The effect of interaction of salinity and genotype on the length of the fruit (at 1% level) and on the traits of seed cavity thickness, percentage of soluble solids, fruit meal diameter, fruit weight and fresh yield (at 5% level) were statistically significant. In salinity 8 dS m-1 compared to 2 dS m-1, the fresh yield of Semsuri Varamin, Green Tile of Mashhad and Magase Neishabur decreased by 32.7, 45.6 and 80%, respectively. Salinity stress can increase the percentage of non-marketable fruits by reducing the weight of fruits, and it is reported in salinity of 8 dS m-1, which is a 56% decrease in marketable yield. The highest reduction in fruit weight and number of fruits per plant were related to the two mass of Magase Neishabur (average weight 540 g) and Green Tile of Mashhad (average number of 1.23 fruit per plant), respectively. Similarly, in a research with a salinity increase of 2.41 dS m-1 to 12.6 dS m-1, yields dropped from 37 t ha-1 to 28 t ha-1, mainly due to the reduction in the number of fruits. The length of fruits in three populations of Semsuri Varamin, Green Tile of Mashhad and Magase Neishabur in the salinity of 8 dS m-1 compared to 2 dS m-1 decreased by 25, 30 and 45%, respectively. Increasing salinity from 3 to 5 dS m-1 caused a significant decrease in fruit length in products such as cucumber (equivalent to 25%). Increasing the percentage of fruit solids in salinity of 8 dS m-1compared to 2 dS m-1 treatment, was 5.8, 1.75 and 1.5 times, respectively, in the Magase Neishabur, Green Tile of Mashhad and Semsuri masses. In a study in which the effect of different treatments on salinity was investigated on the percentage of soluble fruit solids, increasing salinity from 2 to 8 dS m-1 increased the percentage of soluble solids from 7.6 to 10.5 percent.
