Effects of film mulching on the physiological and morphological parameters and yield of cucumber under insufficient drip irrigation

Abstract

AbstractA comprehensive study was conducted to analyse the influence of film mulching on the soil water content (SWC), plant physiological and morphological parameters, yield and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) of cucumber grown in a greenhouse. The experiment was designed to set the film mulching (M1) and non‐film mulching (M0) applications under two irrigation levels (T1: sufficient irrigation; T2: insufficient irrigation). Thus, four treatments, i.e. T1M1, T1M0, T2M1 and T2M0 were set. The response of plant growth, physiology characteristics, yield and SWC under the designed treatments was analysed based on the data from two planting years (2019 and 2020). Applying film mulching effectively improved the SWC by approximately 10%. The cucumber plant height, stem diameter and leaf area index (LAI) under the T2M1 treatment increased by 38.0–63.1, 16.5–24.9 and 84.0–89.4%, respectively, compared to the T2M0 treatment. The maximum yield was found in the T1M1 treatment, which increased by 24.2–27.5% compared to T1M0. Film mulching increased cucumber yield by 18.0–24.7% compared to non‐film mulching. It was also observed that film mulching under insufficient drip irrigation had a positive influence on plant morphological parameters (photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance). Among the four treatments, the maximum photosynthetic rate (= 20.69 μmol m−2 s−1) and stomatal conductance (= 0.47 μmol m−2 s−1) were found in the T2M1 treatment. The sap flow rate under the T2M1 treatment was close to that under the T1M0 treatment, while the largest variation in the sap flow rate occurred under the T1M1 treatment, and the smallest variation occurred under the T2M0 treatment. It can be concluded that the effect of the film mulching technique on cucumber yield and IWUE was significant under insufficient drip irrigation.