Influence of Various Forms of Absorbent and Mulching Materials on the Yield of Vining Cucumber and Fruit Quality in the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Against the background of global climate change, most of the territory of Ukraine today is semi-arid, which causes a decrease in the efficiency of the vegetable growing industry. Due to aridity and elevated temperatures in summer, the normal growth and development of plants, namely vining cucumber, is disrupted. The efficiency of artificial irrigation is also decreasing due to the rise in the price of fresh water and energy carriers for its supply to plants. Soil absorbents and the use of mulching can solve these issues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of various forms of soil absorbent against the background of the use of various mulching materials of organic and synthetic origin on the productivity of vining cucumber. This study involved field, laboratory, statistical, and computational-analytical methods. Studies have established that upon mulching the soil with black polyethylene film together with the introduction of a soil absorbent in the form of a gel, phenological phases of growth and development occur most quickly in vining cucumber plants, and the fruiting period increases by 11 days compared to the control. The combination of film mulching and absorbent gel allowed increasing the height of the main stem by 15.2%, the number of leaves on the plant by 43.9%, and the leaf area by 26.5% compared to the control version. It was established that the highest commercial yield is provided by mulching the soil with a black film together with the introduction of an absorbent in the form of pellets and gel – 56.6-56.8 t/ha, which is 27.5-27.9% more than the control. The marketability of the yield was 99.2-99.4%. Cucumber fruits for mulching with a film and applying an absorbent in the form of a gel had a high content of dry matter (5.3%) and the sum of sugars (2.20%). Lowest nitrate level (N-NO3) in cucumber fruits provided mulching with black agrofibre without an absorbent (53.0 mg/kg)