28th International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC) / International Symposium on Greenhouse and Soilless Cultivation / International Symposium on Advances in Ornamentals, Landscape and Urban Horticulture, Lisbon, Portugal, 22 - 27 August 2010, vol.927, pp.163-170
The experiment was carried out in order to investigate PRD (Partial Rootzone Drying) technique on soilless grown greenhouse cucumber. Four irrigation treatments have been realized: (1) Full-open, (2) Full-closed, (3) PRD-open and (4) PRD-closed. Under full irrigation treatments (Full-open and Full-closed), all roots were wetted in every irrigation with the applied amount of nutrient solution using one line of drip irrigation. The treatments of PRD system received 35% reduced nutrient solution compared to full irrigation treatments. In the open systems (Full-open and PRDopen), the excess nutrient solution was discharged as drainage from the greenhouse. In the closed systems (Full-closed and PRD-closed), drainage effluent from the base of the growth containers was collected and recycled in the system. Effects of the treatments on plant vegetative growth such as height, number of leaf and stem diameter were not significant. However, leaf weight, total biomass weight, leaf area and total yield were significantly affected by the treatments. The total yield in the experiment ranked as Full-open, PRD-open, Full-close, and PRD-close with 21.78, 21.25, 19.48 and 17.12 kg m-2, respectively. The fruit properties such as weight, diameter, volume and water soluble dry matter, EC and total acidity in juice were also investigated. As conclusion, deficit irrigation/ fertigation with PRD technique can be successfully used in soilless grown cucumber and PRD applications in soilless grown greenhouse cucumber have good potential for saving water and nutrients as well as its environmental friendly nature with minimized drainage discharge.