Physiological and morphological response of greenhouse cucumber to the application ‎of different mulches under water deficit stress

To evaluate the effect of different levels of irrigation as well as different types of mulches on some physiological and morphological traits of greenhouse cucumbers an experiment was conducted as split plot based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Irrigation were considered as the main plot in three levels (100, 80 and 60 percent of water requirement) and mulch levels were considered as subplot in four levels (no mulch, black plastic, transparency plastic and wood chips). Plant height, stem diameter, percent of dry weight of shoot and leaf, chlorophylls a and b as well as total chlorophyll, early yield, yield of cucumber grade1 and 2, total yield and water use efficiency were evaluated. The results showed the most levels of most features were attained at 100 percent level of irrigation. Some traits such as plant height, shoot diameter, chlorophylls a and b as well as total chlorophyll, and yield were decreased by applying 1evels of irrigation (100, 80 and 60 percent of water requirement). The highest yield of cucumber grade1 and total (3514 and 3684 g/plant, respectively) were recorded for 100 percent level of irrigation with adoption of wood chips mulch. The results of this research represented that applying wood chips mulch was completely efficient and beneficial in most studied physiological and morphological features of cucumber because of maintaining soil moisture and optimizing application of that in irrigation management that can increase productivity of greenhouse crops especially in arid and semiarid areas.