Abstract
A field experiment was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State in the Southern Guinea Savanna zone of Nigeria during 2017 cropping season to evaluate the effect of varying rates of Nitrogen and Potassium on the growth and yield of Cucumber. Nitrogen (50Kg N/ha, 100Kg N/ha and 150Kg N/ha), Potassium (50Kg K 2 O/ha and 75Kg K 2 O/ha) were combined randomly with basal Phosphorous (50Kg P 2 O 5 /ha) to give seven treatment combinations. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated three times. The crop data collected include number of leaves, leaf area and number of branches, vine length, vine diameter, fruit weight and yield. The result showed that application of Nitrogen and Potassium fertilizers at various rate significantly (P<0.05) increased the growth and yield of cucumber over the control. The highest rate of 150 KgN/ha + 50 Kg P 2 O 5 /ha + 50 Kg K 2 O/ha result to higher vegetative growth than fruit yield. The combination of 50 KgN/ha + 50 Kg P 2 O 5 /ha + 75 Kg K 2 O/ha gave the highest yield and therefore considered optimal for cucumber production in the study area. Keywords: Nitrogen and Potassium, Fertilization, Guinea Savanna, Cucumber DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-12-05 Publication date: June 30 th 2021
Highlights
Most soils in Benue State as a result of continuous cropping over time, have suffered nutrient depletion such that yields can only be attained through the judicious application of inorganic fertilizers
The longest fruit was obtained from cucumber plants that received 150kg N/ha +50kg P2O5 /ha +50kg K2O/ha and the shortest fruit length from the control, this result is similar to the findings of Musara and Chitamba, (2014) who indicated that there was a strong linear relationship between growth rate and fruit yield of cucumber sativa and manure application rates
4 Conclusion The effect of varying rates of Nitrogen and Potassium on cucumber was investigated in this study
Summary
Most soils in Benue State as a result of continuous cropping over time, have suffered nutrient depletion such that yields can only be attained through the judicious application of inorganic fertilizers. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus c.) is an important vegetable crop grown worldwide (Burkill, 1985) It is a warm season crop, which grows best at temperatures ranging between 24 and 29 oC in Nigeria. Fertilizer application is soil, site and crop specific this study was carried out to determine the effect of different levels of nitrogen and potassium in their various combinations on the growth and yield of cucumber in Makurdi southern Guinea savanna zone of Nigeria
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