Effects of nitrogen source and amount, and foliar application methodsof urea and micro nutrients on the yield and growth characteristics in cucumber, Cucumis sativus cv. Royal

The effects of nitrogen source, amount and foliar application of urea and micro nutrients on growth traits of cucumber was studied using a factorial experiment based on completely randomizd design out in Mahneshan, Zanjan, Iran. In this study, two sources of nitrogen (urea and sulfur coated urea), three levels of nitrogen (0, 200, and 400 kg/ha) and five levels of foliar spray, including urea (2 g/l), urea + Fe-EDTA (2+2 g/l), urea + So4Zn (2+2 g/l) and urea + So4Zn + Fe-EDTA (2+2+2 g/l) were used. Nitrogen fertilizers were used befor transplanting and foliar spray was carried out when the plants were in five leaf stage and repeated in several weeks. During the growth priod, various traits such as cucumber yield, number of fruits, length and diameter of fruits, and numberof lateral branches were measured. The results showed that effects of nitrogen source and amounts, and foliar application methods of urea and micro nutrients and their interaction were significant on growth traits in cucumber. The highest yield of Cucumber (1002 g/plant) was obtained by the application of 400 kg N/ha as Sulfur Coated Urea in combination with foliar spray of Urea + So4Zn + Fe-EDTA. The results showed that foliarapplication of nitrogen and micro nutrients increased yield, fruit number, fruit length, fruit diameter and dry matter percentage of cucumber.