Growing vegetables
Asghar Marzizadeh; Sahebali Bolandnazar
Abstract
Introduction
Cucumber stands out as a vital greenhouse crop. The continuous cultivation of cucumbers within greenhouse environments, aimed at mass production and the delivery of fresh products, inevitably leads to heightened soil salinity and the onset of soil-borne diseases like Fusarium wilt. Consequently, ...
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Introduction
Cucumber stands out as a vital greenhouse crop. The continuous cultivation of cucumbers within greenhouse environments, aimed at mass production and the delivery of fresh products, inevitably leads to heightened soil salinity and the onset of soil-borne diseases like Fusarium wilt. Consequently, these factors contribute to a decline in both yield and crop quality, underscoring the necessity for research into methods that enhance the yield and quality of greenhouse produce. Grafting cucumber onto various rootstocks and introducing inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi emerge as the most promising strategies for augmenting the yield and quality of greenhouse-grown cucumbers. With this in mind, the current study was undertaken to examine the impact of different rootstocks and mycorrhizal fungi inoculation on the growth and performance of greenhouse cucumbers under soilless culture conditions.
Materials and Methods
In order to investigate the effect of the rootstock and inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi on the growth and yield of greenhouse cucumber under the soilless culture conditions, a greenhouse factorial experiment was conducted based on the Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) with three replications. The first factor was grafting of cucumber cv Nagene on the Shintoza rootstock, and none-grafting; the second factor was symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi (Diversispora versiformis) and non mycorrhizal ones. The Nagene greenhouse cucumber cultivar was obtained as a scion from Enza Zaden Company, Netherlands and the desired mycorrhizal fungus was obtained from the Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz. The scion seeds were planted earlier than the rootstocks. After completing the planting operation, the seedling trays were moved to the greenhouse with a sufficient natural light. The substrate used for planting of seedlings was peat moss and perlite in the ratio of 1:2, impregnated with the desired amount of mycorrhizal fungi inoculum. Seedlings got ready for transplanting at the true single leaf stage and two weeks after planting the scion seeds. Transplantation of splice grafting was done on seedlings both mycorrhizal fungi treatments (inoculated and not inoculated). After 10 days of transplanting, the transplanted seedlings (which we already treated with mycorrhiza inoculation) were transferred to the transplant chamber immediately. Grafted and inoculated seedlings with the control ones were transferred into the 10-liter pots with peat moss and perlite in a ratio of 1:2. At the time of transferring ths seedlings inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi to the pot; to ensure root inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi, the inoculum including spores, hyphae and root fragments was added to the 10-liter pot of peat moss and perlite in the amount of 50 grams per pot with the substrate around the roots of greenhouse cucumber seedlings. All the plants were fertigated with Hoagland nutrient solution with half strength during the growing period. The pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution were measured daily. At the end of the research, quantitative and qualitative traits were evaluated.
Results and Discussion
Results showed that there was a significant differences between the rootstock and colonization with the mycorrhizal fungi regarding the growth, yield and qualitative traits. Plants inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi and grafted on Shintoza showed a better growth parameter, fruit number, and yield than the other treatments. This treatment with 2115.62 g per plant had the highest fruit yield and the non-grafted non-mycorrhizal control plants with 1569.64 g per plant had the lowest fruit yields. Therefore, the fruit yield increased about 34% in comparison to control. Also, the fruit quality characteristics such as antioxidant capacity and soluble solids (TSS) content were higher in the grafted and colonized plants with mycorrhizal fungi. In addition, there was no significant difference between the treatments in term of pH and total phenol of fruit and titrable acidity of the fruit. These effects show the high potential of mycorrhizal fungi and rootstock in uptake of the nutrients, which provide nutrients that are unavailable to the plant with a special mechanism, and thus affect the growth and yield of greenhouse cucumbers. They have an effect that ultimately improve the growth and yield of the produced crop.
Conclusion
Based on this experiment results, it can be concluded that the simultaneous application of mycorrhizal fungi and grafting on Shintoza rootstock in the soilless culture using peat moss and perlite as the substrate (2:1) is of one the most efficient techniques to increase the yield and fruit quality of greenhouse cucumbers and therefore it is recommended.
Hamed Alipour; Ali Nikbakht; Nematollah Etemadi; Farshid Nourbakhsh; Farhad Rejali
Abstract
Introduction: Drought stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses which significantly reduce yield and growth of most of plants. Plane tree is one of the important trees planted in the urban landscapes of Iran. One of the major limiting factors of landscapes development is providing water for ...
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Introduction: Drought stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses which significantly reduce yield and growth of most of plants. Plane tree is one of the important trees planted in the urban landscapes of Iran. One of the major limiting factors of landscapes development is providing water for plants. Deficit irrigation is a desirable method for saving water use in water deficit conditions and ultimately reducing necessary cost of water securement to landscape plants. Moreover, inoculation of plant root with mycorrhizal fungi can be considered as a method to reduce water demand of plants. In addition, mycorrhiza can increase plant resistance against environmental stress, such as salinity, temperature stress, drought stress and etc. Mycorrhiza can improve drought stress through enhancing water uptake as result of extra radical hyphae and stomatal regulation or transpiration. Increasing P concentration by mycorrhiza inoculation can be another mechansim for drought resistance in plants. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate two Glomus species in combination together on plane tree under water deficit for growth characteristics and nutrients uptake such as P, Fe and Zn concentration.
Materials and Methods: This outdoor experiment was conducted at - Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, with average temperature 14.2 ºC and 27.9 ºC night/day, respectively and relative humidity 35-70% between Mar and Aug 2012 and repeated under the same condition in 2013. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of inoculation with mycorrhizal fungus on plane saplings response to different applicable water levels (50 and 100% of water needs) based on a completely randomized design with 3 replications. The treatments were control (without fertilizer), Germans peat + fertilizer, Germans peat + fertilizer + mycorrhiza in 50% of field capacity and Germans peat + fertilizer + mycorrhizain 100% of field capacity. The Mycorrhiza fungi (mycorrhizal root, soil containing spore and extra radical mycelium) were obtained from Institute of Soil and Water Research (Tehran, Iran). There were inoculums treatments: two AM fungus inoculums (G. intraradices and G. mosseae) with combination of both. The inoculated dosage was approximately 80 spores g-1 for G. intraradices and 80 spores g-1 for G. mosseae, calculated by microscope before the experiment. Plants were irrigated daily base of 100% FC after the confidence of establishing plants about 2 months and then differential irrigations were applied. The amount of 100 and 50% ET was applied for full irrigation, moderate and serve deficit irrigation, respectively. To monitor the soil water content, tensiometry probe tubes were inserted into the soil in control pot around the root. Irrigation was performed whenever 40% of the available water was consumed. In order to calculate the amount of water necessary to bring each soil to FC, soil samples were collected and the water content determined by drying. Photosynthesis rate was measured with a LCI portable photosynthesis system. Soluble sugars measured according to Phenol–Sulfuric Acid method. Extraction of the Leaf chlorophyll pigments using with 100% acetone. The extraction of P, K, Fe, and Zn from the plant tissue material was performed by using dry ashing method. The mean data of two years were analyzed with SAS 9.1 software, the means were compared for significance by the least significant difference (LSD) test at P < 0.05.
Results and Discussion: Mycorrhiza inoculation significantly increased fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll content, total sugar, leaf area, photosynthesis rate and P and K concentration as compared to control. As compared to the 100 and 50% FC, total chlorophyll, fresh and dry weight and P concentration significantly was increased in 100% FC (Table 4 & 5). The results showed that inoculation of plants with mycorrhizal fungus significantly increased most growth parameters including leaf area, chlorophyll content and leaf fresh and dry weight of plane saplings. Phosphorus content significantly increased in inoculated plants as compared to non-inoculated plants. It is recommended that in dry regions and water shortage conditions, the deficit irrigation method accompanied with mycorrhizal fungus inoculation to save water.
Conclusion: Our data showed that mycorrhiza inoculations increased most growth parameters including leaf area, chlorophyll content and leaf fresh and dry weight of plane saplings. In conclusion, mycorrhiza inoculations can increase plant tolerance against drought stress by increasing phosphorus concentration, chlorophyll content, and photosynthesis rate. Generally, results of this study revealed that inoculation of plane tress with mycorrhizal fungi, improved plant growth under stress conditions through its positive influence on nutrients uptake, chlorophyll content and other growth parameters.
