Effects of pruning on growth and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Mercy variety in The acid soil of North Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Mardhiana, Pradana AP, Adiwena M, Kartina, Santoso D, Wijaya R, Maliki A. 2017. Effects of pruning on growth and yield of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Mercy variety in The acid soil of North Kalimantan, Indonesia. Cell Biol Dev 1: 13-17. In recent years, cucumber production in Tarakan, North Kalimantan only reaches 20 tons ha-1. In fact, cucumber production potential could reach 49 tons ha-1. Several factors that limit the low productivity of cucumbers in Tarakan are acid soil and cultivation techniques which are still limited. This study aimed to determine the effect of pruning on the growth and yield of cucumbers in acid soil in Tarakan. The study was conducted using Randomized Complete Block Design with the treatment of without pruning (P0), shoot of prunings on the main stem (P1), pruning of whole lateral branches above the third section (P2), and pruning of 2 lateral branches that emerged first above the third section (P4). The results showed that plant height was 16.17% (P1) and 2.26% (P2) lower also 0.13% higher (P3) than the control (P0). The highest number of leaves was found in treatment P1 (16.19%) compared to P0. The best fruit diameter was also found in P1 treatment with 4.93% difference compared to P0. Furthermore, a highly significant and the best result on weight per fruit were also obtained by P1 treatment. The results showed that the fruit weight of P1 treatment (11.39%) was higher than P0. This study provided new information that the pruning treatment of shoots on the main stem of cucumber variety Mercy in acid soil could increase the diameter and weight of cucumber.