EFFECT
OF MULCHING AND ORGANIC FERTILIZER
ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF
TWO VARIETIES OF CUCUMBER (CUCUMIS SATIVUS)
A PROJECT PROPOSAL PRESENTED TO
DEPARTMENT OF CROP PRODUCTION AND
LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT,
EBONYI STATE UNIVERSITY, ABAKALIKI.
SUPERIVOR: PROF. OBI, I.U.
CORDINATOR: MR.
ANIEKWE, N. L.
Cucumber (cucumis sativus l.) is an
important vegetable and one of the most
popular members of the cucurbitaceae family (lower
and Edwards, 1986, Uhoa, 1998). It is a creeping vine that roots in the ground and grow up trellises or other
supporting frames, wrapping around with
thin, spiraling tendrils. The
plant has large leaves that form a canopy over the fruit. The fruit of the
cucumber is roughly cylindrical, elongated with tapered ends and may be as
large as 60 centimeters (24 inches) long and ten (centimeter in diameter.
Having an enclosed seed and developing from a flower.
Botanically
speaking the cucumbers are classified as fruits. However, much like tomatoes
and squash they are often perceived, prepared and eaten as vegetable. Cucumbers
are usually more than 90% water. It is thought to be one of the oldest
vegetables cultivated by man with historical records dating back to 5000years (Webner and Guner, 2004). The crop is the fourth most important
vegetable after tomato, cabbage and onion in Asia (Tatlioglu, 1997), the second most important vegetable crop
after tomato in Western Europe (Phu, 1997). In tropical Africa, its place has not been ranked because
of limited use.
Fertile soils are
used for the cultivation of cucumber.
Infertile soils result in bitter and misshapen fruits which
are often rejected by consumers.
Bush fallowing has been an efficient,
balanced and sustainable agricultural
system for soil productivity
and fertility restoration in the
tropics (Ayoola and Adeniran, 2006), but as a result
of increase in the population, the fallowing periods have decreased from
ten years to three years and this has had an adverse effect on the fertility restoration leading to poor yields of crops.
Therefore, the use of external inputs in
the form of farmyard manures and
fertilizer (Artificial) has become imperative.
Organic
manures has been used as a soil
conditioner since ancient times and its
benefits have not been fully harnessed
due to large quantities required in
order to satisfy the nutritional needs
of crops (Makinde et
al., 2007). The
need for
renewable forms of energy and reduced
cost of fertilizing crops have
revived the use of organic
manures worldwide (Ayoola and Adeneran, 2006). Improvement
in environmental conditions and public health
are important reasons for
advocating increased used of organic
materials (Ojeniyi 2000, Maritus and Vleic, 2001). However, because it is bulky, the cost of transportation and handling
constitute a constraint to its use by peasant farmers.
Organic manure
release nutrients slowly and steadily and activates soil microbial biomass (Ayuso et
al., 1996; Belay et al., 2001). Organic
manures can sustain cropping
system through better
nutrient recycling and improvement of soil
physical attributes (El-Shakweer et al., 1998). The use of inorganic
fertilizers has not been helpful under intensive
agriculture because of its
high cost and it is
often associated with
reduced crop yields
soil degradation, nutrient inbalance and acidity (Kang and Juo, 1980; Obi and Ebo, 1995). the use
of organic manure has been recommended for
sustenance of long
term cropping in the tropics ( Ipimoroti et al., 2002). Fuchs et
al., (1970) reported that
nutrients from mineral fertilizers enhance the establishment of crops while those
from mineralization of organic manures promoted yield when both fertilizer were combined. It has
been observed that addition of
manure increased the soil water holding
capacity and this means that nutrients
would be made more available to crops
where manures have been added to
the soil (Costa et al., 1991).
Mulching is a
popular agronomic practice in
agriculture which involves the use
of organic or
inorganic materials to cover the surface of the soil to reduce the rate of loss of soil moisture, control
weeds and diseases by preventing
soil contact with the plant foliage, to
control temperature either by keeping it cool or keeping it
warm, to add to soil fertility and increase soil organic matter
(Organic mulch).
Plastic
mulches have induced
large increase in growth
and yield of a variety
of crops including tomato (Emmert, 1957; Takatori et al., 1964; Vandenberg and Tiessen, 1992; Mullins et
al., 1992, Lamont Jr.,
1993). These growth and yield increases
have been attributed to
changes in soil temperature and air temperature near the
cover since soil
temperature and moisture
were highest under polyethene (Weber, 2000).
Mulching also
improves early yield (Bhella, 1998), fruit
quality (Perry and Sanders
1986)., increases the efficiency of
water uptake and fertilizer use (Wien et al., 1993) and reduces weed competition (Aguyor and Taber, 1993). According to Struzina and Kromer (1989), the use
of black plastic mulch
on cucumber produced higher yields and compensated additional cost of production input
in Germany. Also, Goyal and Allison
(1983) reported that plastic mulch on
cucumber increased production by 4.6t/ha
in Puerto Rico.
Objectives
This experiment therefore will be conducted with the following
Objectives.
(1). To study the effect of different rates of
organic manure (poultry manure) on the
growth and yield of two varieties of cucumber.
(2). To study the effect of black plastic Mulch on the
growth and yield of cucumber (cucumis sativus).