Abstract
Abiotic and biotic stresses both decrease the quality and quantity of cultivated plants. In this study, in order to see the responses of cucumber plants to drought stress and cucumber downy mildew infection, downy mildew infestation at different two levels, B1 (disease infestation) and B2 (no disease infestation), along with three fertigation requirement levels, full fertigation T1, moderate nutrient solution deficit T2 and severe nutrient solution deficit T3, were applied in a greenhouse. Thus, six treatments, i.e., B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T1, B2T2 and B2T3, were set. The leaf gas-exchange parameters were significantly increased under CK (control experiment, B2T1: no disease infestation and full irrigation) treatment, and leaf photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance were significantly decreased under the B1T1 treatment. Leaf intercellular CO2 concentration was significantly increased under B1T1 treatment. Leaf photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, intercellular CO2 concentration and stomatal conductance were significantly decreased under B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments. Compared with treatment CK (B2T1), the plant height of cucumber under B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments decreased by 11.41%, 19.05%, 27.48%, 7.55% and 10.62%, respectively; the stem diameter of cucumber under B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments decreased by 5.70%, 13.45%, 23.03%, 9.46% and 15.74%, respectively; and leaf area of cucumber under B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments decreased by 22.79%, 38.68%, 58.28%, 13.76% and 29.96%, respectively. The root–shoot ratio of cucumber under B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T1, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments was 3.16%, 2.99%, 4.11%, 3.92%, 3.13% and 3.63%, respectively. The root–shoot ratio of cucumber was the highest under the B1T3 treatment.
Highlights
With the continuously increasing global population, the demand for food production has increased [1,2,3]
Period. 2020, Leaf10, photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, intercellular CO2 concentration and stomatal conductance were significantly decreased under the B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments during the and
Compared with treatment CK (B2T1), the plant height of cucumber under the B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and B2T3 treatments decreased by 11.41%, 19.05%, 27.48%, 7.55% and 10.62%, respectively; the stem diameter of cucumber under the B1T1, B1T2, B1T3, B2T2 and
Summary
With the continuously increasing global population, the demand for food production has increased [1,2,3]. 1.05 million hm , accounting for half of the world’s cucumber cultivation area, and the annual yield was about 56.29 million t [10,11,12] Cucumbers, as they grow, are unavoidably exposed to a combination of abiotic stresses (including salt, drought, heat, chilling and UV-B) and biotic stresses (including bacteria and fungi) [13,14]. As they grow, are unavoidably exposed to a combination of abiotic stresses (including salt, drought, heat, chilling and UV-B) and biotic stresses (including bacteria and fungi) [13,14] These environmental stressors have caused extensive worldwide agricultural losses and posed a major challenge in the face of an ever-increasing world population. Considering this fact, in this study, in order to observe the plant’s response to multiple stresses, we applied drought stress and cucumber downy mildew infection at the same time, which represents the situation encountered by cucumber plants under field conditions
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