The purpose of the research is to determine the main relations of productivity and water consumption for cucumber growing from seedling, as well as to establish the optimal growing methods for wide implement of seedling culture for commercial production in the dry steppe zone of light-chestnut soils of the Lower Volga region. To this purpose three-factor experiment was conducted where the study factors were the width of tunnel covering (0.5 and 1.0 m), the rate of fertilizers calculated for planned yield of 50, 70, and 90 t/ha (N100P60K0, N170P100K100, N240P140K200), and the threshold of moisture content in soil layer 0.5 m (70, 80, and 90 % FC). The experiments were conducted in 2010-2012 using cucumber hybrid Komponist F1. As a result of experimental study it was found that the use of wide (1.0 m) tunnel covering provides the significant increase of cucumber yield and water consumption (by 34.9-47.6 %) at the equal rates of fertilizers calculated for planned yield and equal pre-irrigation moisture content in soil. The enhancing of mineral and water supply leads to yield increase from 62 % at applying fertilizer rate N100P60K0 and maintaining soil moisture higher than 70 % FC to 94.4 % at applying fertilizer rate N240P140K200 and maintaining soil moisture higher than 90 % FC. Total increase of water consumptive use of cucumber growing from seedlings was 1387 m³/ha or 81.4 %. The maximum cucumber yield 83.8 t/ha at the water consumption of 3090 m³/ha was obtained in wide (1.0 m) tunnel coverings by maintaining the content of soil moisture higher than 90 % FC and fertilizer applying at the rate of N240P140K200.
Keywords: cucumber, drip irrigation, seedling culture, tunnel coverings, crop yield, fertilizer, water consumption.
