Nutrient and Water Use Efficiency of Cucumbers Grown in Soilless Media under a Naturally Ventilated Greenhouse

Cucumbers were planted in soilless media in a split plot design with three replicates under a naturally ventilated greenhouse to study nutrient and water use efficiency in relation to fertigation management. Three fertigation levels (F1-100%, F2-85% and F3-70%) and three varieties (V1-Kafka, V2-Multistar and V3-PBRK-4) were applied to the main and subplots in the experiment. The amount of irrigation water applied for growing cucumbers was computed to be 2559.4 m3 ha-1. The Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE) of macro and micro nutrients was computed to be in the order of S> P> Mg> N> Ca> K and Cu≥ Mo> Zn> B> Mn> Fe, respectively. Among the varieties, NUE in V2 remained statistically higher than V3 for each level of fertigation. Similarly, among fertigation levels, NUE under F3 remained statistically higher than F1 for each variety. Among interactions, NUE under treatment F3V2 was statistically higher than F2V3, F1V2, F1V1, and F1V3, respectively. Irrigation Water Use Efficiency (IWUE) was found significantly higher (51.4 kg m-3) under treatment F1V2 than F3V3 (34.5 kg m-3). Crop Water Use Efficiency (CWUE) was also found statistically different both among fertigation levels and varieties, having highest and lowest values of 179.9 and 120.6 kg m-3 under treatment F1V2 and F3V3, respectively. Thus, growing offseason seedless cucumbers in soilless media inside a naturally ventilated greenhouse, where the environment was partially under control, helped in improving nutrient and water use efficiency compared to conventional cultivation.