Impact of substrate volume on the cucumber seedling quality

Abstract

In the production of vegetable crops and flowers, the size of the growing space, i.e. volume of container cells or pots, has a direct impact on water and air properties of the substrate, nutrient availability, and consequently the plant growth. Reactions differ depending on the plant species. Plants belonging to the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae) have the root system which is very sensitive to mechanical injuries and which has weak regeneration abilities. Therefore, the volume of the substrate in which their seedlings will be grown is very significant in the seedling production. Finding the optimal substrate volume has an impact on the seedling quality and later on the production itself, but it is also very significant from the economic point of view. Therefore, studies were conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade with the aim to define the optimal substrate volume which would provide the seedlings of the highest quality in the shortest time possible. The cucumber seedlings (Darina F1) were grown in grow chambers at day/night intervals of 14/10h and air temperature of 25/18oC. The seedlings were grown in pots of different volumes: 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 cm3. The pots were filled with the substrate TKS 1 (Floragard).