Abstract
High-quality cucumber seedlings are a prerequisite for ensuring high yield of cucumbers. With the continuous increase of cucumber planting area in China, the demand for high-quality cucumber seedlings is also increasing. One of the important ways to improve the quality of cucumber seedlings is to improve the light environment by using artificial light source. In this study, three cucumber seedlings (cv. Jintong, cv. Yunv and cv. Xiazhiguang) were grown for 23 d under eight levels of daily light integral (DLI) at 4.3 mol/(m2·d), 8.6 mol/(m2·d), 10.1 mol/(m2·d), 13.0 mol/(m2·d), 5.8 mol/(m2·d), 11.5 mol/(m2·d), 14.4 mol/(m2·d) and 17.3 mol/(m2·d), respectively. The results showed that when DLI was 14.4 mol/(m2·d), the seedling height, stem diameter, total leaf area and shoot dry/fresh weight of all three cucumber cultivars reached the maximum, while hypocotyl length decreased with the increase of light intensity. When DLI was 14.4 mol/(m2·d), Jintong and Xiazhiguang had the highest health index, which were 49.29 and 28.56, respectively, while that of Yunv was 81.59 (DLI = 14.4 mol/(m2·d)). With the increase of DLI, the photosynthetic capacity of cucumber increases gradually. The highest net photosynthetic rate was shown at DLI of 14.4 mol/(m2·d), while the chlorophyll content of cucumber seedlings of all three cultivars were less affected by DLI. Jintong and Yunv had the highest chlorophyll content when DLI was 8.6 mol/(m2·d) because they were adapted to low-light environment. In conclusion, the DLI of 14.4 mol/(m2·d) for Jintong and Xiazhiguang, while that of 17.3 mol/(m2·d) for Yunv are suggested for the light environment design of factory-cultivated seedling for cucumber. Keywords: cucumber seedling, daily light integral (DLI), growth, photosynthesis DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20201305.5566 Citation: Ji F, Wei S Q, Liu N, Xu L J, Yang P. Growth of cucumber seedlings in different varieties as affected by light environment. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2020; 13(5): 73–78.
Highlights
Cucumber, as an important economic crop, is one of the main vegetables widely planted in the world
Suitable light environment can promote the growth of cucumber seedlings and ensure their quality, and the influence of light environment on the three cultivars of cucumber is slightly different because of the difference of cultivars
Light intensity and photoperiod have an important impact on the morphogenesis of cucumber seedlings
Summary
As an important economic crop, is one of the main vegetables widely planted in the world. It has the status of second only to tomato in fruit vegetables. Because of its rich taste and nutritional value, cucumber is deeply loved by consumers and plays an increasingly important role in agricultural structure adjustment and farmers’ income increase. China is the largest cucumber producing country in the world in terms of scale and yield. In 2018, the cucumber cultivation area in China was 1.05 million hm, accounting for half of the world’s cucumber cultivation area, and the annual yield was about 56.29 million t[1]. There is an obvious gap in cucumber yield per unit area in China, with the high yield reaching more than
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