IMPACT OF WATER STRESS ON CUCUMBER GROWTH AND YIELD

Efficient irrigation plays a vital role in the production of vegetables and fruits. Too low or high water application can reduce the growth and development process of plants, which may negatively affect the crop yield. To investigate the fact, a field experiment was carried out to check the growth and yield of cucumber on a sandy soil, under grееnhousе conditions by using a drip irrigation system having a flow rate of drippers 2 liters per hour respectively. The field study was carried out on a random block design (RCBD) having five different rates of irrigation, i.е. (T1 = one time, T2 = two times, T3 = thrее times, T4 = four times, and T5 = five times) application per day, respectively. The results revealed that different levels of irrigation with constant doses of fertilizers brought a positive еffеct in cucumber production. T5 was found to be the most economic and suitable of all the treatments because it took fewer days for the plants to develop flowers (30.385 days), set fruit (9.055 days), mature fruit (6.178 days), produce more fruits per plant (33.746), have the longest fruit (17.812 cm), the heaviest fruit (131.977 g), the maximum vine length (2.73 m), and have the highest fruit yield (57.644 tons ha-1). On all the metrics, however, treatment T1's outcomes were insufficient. The results indicate that, when utilizing a drip irrigation system in a greenhouse, five times a day for five minutes each time, with a 45-minute interval between applications, is optimal for the best potential development and yield of cucumbers.