Growth and yield of greenhouse cucumber as influenced by nutrient solution EC and ‎number of flowers per node ‎

The nutrient uptake, growth and yield of plants depend on nutrients availability in rhizosphere and also on amount of assimilates available in root as carbon skeleton and energy source. Any factor affecting nutrients availability or assimilate partitioning pattern can also affect uptake phenomenon and growth. In this study, the effects of number of flowers per node and nutrient solution concentration on growth pattern and yield of greenhouse cucumber plants were studied using a factorial experiment based on complete randomized block design. Factors consisted of: three levels of number of flowers per node (keeping one, two or three flowers per node) and 5 levels of electrical conductivity of nutrient solution (EC of 1.1, 1.5, 2.15, 2.78 and 3.32 dS/m). Results showed in addition to shoot growth, plants treated with 2.15 EC had higher nitrogen and phosphorous content. The highest yield was observed in plants treated with EC of 1.5 and 2.15 dS/m. Increasing number of flowers per node resulted in increasing in fruit yield in short term (80 days after transplanting) but, no significant differences were observed among treatments when the experiment proceeded (130 day after transplanting). Increase in number of flowers per node led to more allocation of assimilates to fruits, but probably due to low potential of sources this effect of number of flowers on yield has been physiologically controlled.