Effects Of Agronomic Technique Measures On Yield And Quality Of Cucumber Seeds Production

Low production level has been a common problem for long in cucumber production and severely limited the extension and popularization of new cultivars. In this paper, effects of several management methods on yield and quality of cucumber seeds were studied in order to explore an efficient cultivation technique for cucumber seed production. The management methods studied includes planting density, pollination times, amount of reserving fruits in single plant, and positions and intervals of node order for fruit reserving. The study is important in practice of making up the shortage of cucumber seeds, and also is valuable in researches of cucumber seed production. The main results are as follows:1. Fruit setting rates were affected significantly by planting density. As planting density increased, the fruit setting rates increased first and declined afterwards, with a highest level of 93% at the density of 5500 plants per 667 m2. For the yield and 1000-seed weight, both of the showed negative correlations with planting density. A4 treatment had the highest yield of per 667 m2, which was 39.56kg. A1, A2, A3 and A4 showed no significant difference in the affecting seed germination. A5 had the lowest germination rate and potential, while A4 had the best seed quality.2. As pollination times increased, fruit setting rates, single fruit seed yields, single fruit seed numbers, germination rates and germination potential all increased first and decreased afterwards. Pollinating for two times (B2) showed the highest efficiency. Besides, seedlings of B2 exhibited best, indicating the highest seed quality.3. As the fruit reserving numbers in single plant increased, 1000-seed weights, germination rates and germination potentials declined. However, single fruit seed yields and single fruit seed numbers increased first and decreased afterwards with the highest yield of 42.64kg per 667m2 in treatment of reserving 3 fruits per plant (C3). Growth of seedling in C1 (1 fruits per plant), C2 (2 fruits per plant) and C3 showed little difference. C4 (4 fruits per plant) had the weakest seedlings. So it's proper to reserving 3 fruits per plant in cross-breeding seed production of cucumber.4. The position of fruit reserving severely influenced seed yields, 1000-seed weights, germination rates, germination potentials and seedling growth. Fruits reserved at the 7th and 8th node order provided best seeds and seedlings. Both higher and lower starting position caused retarded fruit growth, and led to decline of seed yield and quality. So the best fruit starting position for fruit reserving should be the 7th and 8th node order.5. Intervals of node order also influence single plant yields, 1000-seed weights, germination rates and germination potentials. In 2-E2 treatment (2 fruit per plant with an interval of 2 node orders), plants had highest yield, 1000-seed weight, germination rates, germination potential and seedling growth. So, the 2-E2 mode should be proper for seed production of cucumber.