Cultivation of Cucumber

September 30, 2020May 4, 2023 Agrovista 1 Comment

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. Cucumber is an important summer vegetable commonly grown throughout India. The cucumber plant, like a creeper, has a climbing or trailing habit. The tender fruits are eaten raw or with salt in salad. They are also used as a cooked vegetables. It is reported that the oil extracted from seeds is good for the brain and body. Drinking or water immediately after eating cucumber should be avoided, as it sometimes causes severe indigestion

Origin

cucumber is indigenous to India because there is evidence of the existence of a cucumber-like plant Cucumis hard Wickii Royl.

Common Name of cucumber in India ;

Kamal Kakdi (Hindi), Kakkari (Malayalam),Kakdi-Maraihi) Dosakaya/Keera (Telugu), Vellarikkai (Tamil).
Climate Requirement for Cucumber Cultivation;
The cucumber is a warm-season crop and grows best at a temperature between 18°C and 24°C. It does not withstand even light frost.

Varieties of Cucumber;

Variety	Developed By	Characteristics
Pusa Barkha	IARI, New Delhi	A first extra early variety of cucumber for Kharif season cultivation for North Indian plains. It is field tolerant to high humidity, high temperature, and downy mildew disease. Ready for first harvesting in 40-45 days after sowing. The average fruit yield is 18.8 t/ha during Kharif season.
Pusa Uday	IARI, New Delhi	Suitable for cultivation both in spring-summer and rainy seasons. Maturity 50-55 days. Average Yield 155 q/ha, which is 28% higher over check (Poinsette).
Punjab Kheera-1	PAU, Ludhiyana	Released in 2018. It has dark green color fruits which are bitter less having an average weight of 125gm and average length of 13-15cm. harvesting can be done after 45 and 60 days of sowing in September and January month sown crop. It gives an average yield of 304qtl/acre when sown in September month and 370qtl/acre when sown in January month.
Punjab Naveen		The variety is developed in 2008.This variety of plant has dark green color leaves, fruits are uniformly cylindrical in shape and are light green in color with a smooth surface. The fruits are crispy, bitter free and contain soft seed. It contains high amount of Vitamin C content and contains high quality of dry matter. The variety gets mature within 68 days. The fruit has excellent taste, attractive color and appearance, good in size and texture. It gives an average yield of 70 qtl/acre.
DC-83	IARI, New Delhi	Straight, rudimentary spines, soft skinned with tender and crispy flesh. Harvest at 45-50 DAS, yield potential of 200-250 q/ha. • Seed rate: 1.0- 2.0 kg/ha, Sowing time: Kharif and Spring-summer • States: Punjab, U.P., Bihar and Jharkhand
DGCH-18	IARI , New Delhi	Gynoecy based hybrid of cucumber with predominately gynoecious behavior, earliness (45 DAS); suitable for spring summer and Kharif season cultivation. Yield: 240 q/ha • Seed rate: 1.0- 2.0 kg/ha, Sowing time: Kharif and Spring-summer • States: J&K, H.P. and Uttarakhand
Kashi Nutan	IIVR, Varanasi	Early maturing hybrid, cylindrical long, light green colour with mottling at peduncle end,resistant to downy mildew, suitable for Kharif and summer, yield 17.5 t/ha, S/rate: 350 g/ha.
Solan Srijan	YSPUH&F,Solan	A prolific fruit bearer gets mature in 55-60 days after sowing. Fruits are cylindrical, crispy, and green in color having 18-22 cm length with an average fruit weight of 255-265 g. Bears around 10-15 fruits /plants.• Average yield is 200-225 q/ha.• Suitable for cultivation in HP and other hilly states
Heera	KAU,	Light green colour fruit (15.5 cm long, 0.26 kg fruit weight, average yield 73.2 t/ha). Suitable for open and rain shelter cultivation
Hybrid : DARL 101	DIBER, Pithoragarh	Specially suited to micro climatic conditions of hilly region. Field tolerant to powdery mildew • Suitable for Uttarakhand
Hybrid: DARL 102	DIBER, Pithoragarh	Excellent for hills in open and protected conditions. Field tolerant to powdery mildew and fruit fly.• Suitable for Uttarakhand

Some other Varieties are; Japanese Long green, Straight, Poinsette, and Balam Khira. Khira Poona Krishnanagar Selection, Chiana, Priya, Khirpati, Chaitali, F1-hybrid, etc.

Soil and its preparation

Cucumber can be grown in all types of soil from sandy to heavy soils. Loam, silt loam and clay loam soils are considered best for getting a higher yield. Soil pH between 5.5. and 6.7 is favorable for its cultivation. The land should be prepared thoroughly.

Sowing of Seeds
(a) Sowing time. The cucumber is cultivated both as a summer and rainy season crop and the seed is sown according to the type of crop.
Summer crop: January to February.

Rainy season crop: June-July.

The seed of cucumber is sown in April in the hills.
(b) Seed rate. The seed rate is one kg per acre.
(c) Method of sowing. The seed is sown by a dibbling method at a distance of 1.5 to 2.5 meters (row to row) x 60 to 90 cm (plant to plant). Two to three seeds is sown in each pit.

Manuring
Cucumbers required about 24 kg of Nitrogen, 12 kg of Phosphoric acid, and 12 kg of Potassium per acre. The recommended application of 400 kg of N.P. & K Mixture (5:10: 10) over a basal application of 4 to 6 tonnes of F.Y.M. or compost per acre.

Intercultural operations

Shallow cultivation should be given during the early stages of growth to control the weeds. Herbicides (such as Glycophosphate, Paraquat, and Chloramben @ 800 gm per acre) may be used to control weeds.

Irrigation
The summer crop is cultivated as an irrigated crop and requires enough! soil moisture during its growth and development. So irrigation should be given as and when needed. No irrigation is given in rainy season crops.

Harvesting
The full-grown tender fruits should be harvested at an interval of two to four days. Timely picking is more important in regard to quality.

Yield
The average yield is about 3500 to 4,000 kg per acre.

Cultivation of Cucumber

One thought on “Cultivation of Cucumber”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply