EFFECTS OF MULCH AND TUNNEL ON THE YIELD AND HARVESTING PERIOD OF CUCUMBER AND SQUASH

Approximately 1.6 million ha area will be irrigated in Southeast region of Turkey in coming future.
Plant production pattern of the region will certainly be changed by irrigation.
Squash and cucumber species will gain more importance in vegetable production.

In this study, effects of the mulch and high tunnel on the total and early yield, plant development, average fruit weight (g), fruit height (cm) and fruit diameter (mm) of cucumber and squash were investigated.
In order to determine the yield dynamic, harvest time was divided to 15 days periods.

According to the results, the total and early yield were raised by using mulch.
The total and early yield of squash were increased to 30 % and 29 % respectively, whereas the percentage of the total and early yield of cucumber were found 25 % and 51%, respectively.
The reason for this increase was due to the lengthtening of stem and the increasing of the fruit number.
There was no significant effect of mulch on the fruit quality of both species.
The harvesting period of the species was about 2–2.5 months and maximum crop was obtained after 15 days from the first harvest day.

VII International Symposium on Timing Field Production of Vegetables

N. Sari, H.Y. Güler, K. Abak, Y. Pakyürek

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1994.371.39