Influence of Drip Fertigation and Foliar Spray of Boron on Yield and Nutrient Uptake by Cucumber cv. Himangi

The effect of fertigation and foliar application of boron on yield, uptake of nutrients and nutrient use efficiency by cucumber Cv. Himangi was studied during two consecutive years 2018-19 and 2019-20. An experiment was carried out in open field conditions with five fertigation levels viz., 100 % RDF through soil, 120 %, 100 %, 80 % and 60 % RDF through fertigation in ten equal splits at 10 days interval along with three levels of foliar application of boron viz. 0.0, 0.1, and 0.2 per cent concentration at 30, 45 and 60 DAS to determine suitable fertigation and foliar spray of boron dose for cucumber cultivation. The experiment was consisting of fifteen treatment combinations of recommended doses of water soluble fertilizers, comprising of five levels of fertigation. The results indicated that, yield, nutrient uptake and nutrient use efficiency of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium under study were significantly influenced by various fertigation and boron levels. On the basis of pooled data, it was observed that, among various treatment combinations, minimum male : female sex ratio (1:4), maximum average weight of fruit (239.88 g), yield per vine ( 2.44 kg), yield ( 228.37 q/ha), uptake of nitrogen by shoot, ( 13.03 kg/ha), ( 81.62 kg/ha) by fruit and (94.01 kg/ha) by whole cucumber vine, maximum uptake of phosphorus by shoot (3.62 kg/ha), (21.52 kg/ha) by fruit and ( 25.13 kg/ha) by whole cucumber vine and the maximum uptake of potassium by shoot ( 14.05 kg/ha), by fruit (101.45 kg/ha) and ( 115.20 kg/ha) by whole cucumber vine, B:C ratio (2.99) and minimum (27.73, 25.71 and 17.2, 16.85 and 55.28, 50.28 %, respectively) nutrient use efficiency of NPK were recorded with the application of 120 % RDF through fertigation due to nutrient losses through leaching, devolatilization. While, maximum (36.70, 34.70 and 25.38, 21.90 and 65.81, 63.43 respectively) nutrient use efficiency of NPK was recorded with the application of 60 % RDF through fertigation. The maximum (22.59, 20.61 and 6.99, 7.70 and 27.30, 30.47 %, respectively) nutrient use efficiency with foliar application of boron at concentration of 0.2 per cent and minimum (3.60, 3.44 and 0.56, 0.52 and 3.72, 4.05 %, respectively) nutrient use efficiency with foliar application of boron at concentration of 0.1 per cent.