ENHANCEMENT OF GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF CUCUMBER (Cucumis Sativus L) CULTIVAR (MARKETER) THROUGH DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS OF ORGANIC MANURE

Abstract

The enhancement of growth and productivity of cucumber cultivar was studied The experiment was conducted in the Teaching and Research Farm of Rivers State University, Nkpolu Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt; in the rainforest region of southern Nigeria (40 48.N 60 58.E) a humid tropical area with an elevation of 21m above sea level. The study was conducted between April and June, 2019.. Organic manures (poultry manure, wood ash manure and combination of poultry and wood ash manure) was applied to the cucumber (Marketer) with a control (no treatment) replicated three times and arranged in a randomized complete block design. The result showed that the organic manure significantly enhanced the number of leaves, vine length and number of flowers par plant. However, no significant enhancement on leaves area per plant by the three treatments on the cucumber variety was shown. Furthermore, the productivity showed that only cucumber variety treated with poultry manure and combination of poultry wood ash manure, produced fruits with weight (2.52g and 1.51g) respectively, consequently, according to the result of the analysis, marketer variety treated with poultry manure and combination of poultry wood ash manure had yield. Therefore, it is recommended that marketer variety of cucumber should be considered by farmers within the study area and treatment of this variety with poultry manure and combination of poultry and wood ash manure should be applied for enhanced yield.