Effect of planting dates, spacing and training systems on growth and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different planting dates, spacing and training systems on growth and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) under naturally ventilated polyhouseduring the off season 2017 at the Research farm, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur. The treatment comprised of three planting dates, two spacing and three training system were evaluated in factorial randomized block design (FRBD) with three replications. Among the dates of transplanting, 2nd fortnight of March proved significantly superior to 1stfortnight of March and 1st fortnight of April with respect of vine length (174.2 cm), days to initiation of first female flower (13.5), days to 50% flowering (26.3 days), number of days to first picking (34.6 days). The crop transplanted in first fortnight of March produced the plant with significantly smaller internodal length (9.3 cm) and prolonged harvest duration (59.3 days). Plants grown at wider spacing of 75 cm x 30 cm resulted in significantly smaller internodal length (9.4 cm) and took lesser number of days for initiation of first female flower (14.1 days), days to 50% flowering (28.5 days), days to first picking (36.4 days) and harvest duration (53.9 days) whereas narrow spacing of 60 cm x 30 cm produced significantly higher vine length (171.5 cm) regards to the number of shoots per plants, plants trained to two shoots produced significantly smaller internodal length (9.0 cm), took lesser number of days to 50% flowering (26.6 days), number of days to first picking (36.3 days) while significantly higher vine length (172.1 cm) and prolonged harvest duration (58.8 days) was also recorded with two shoots. In case of fruit yield plants with three shoots, spaced at 60 cm x 30 cm in the 1st fortnight of March recorded significantly higher fruit yield. Interaction effect was found significant for vine length, number of days to first picking and harvest duration.