Effect of different Cucurbita rootstocks on survival rate, yield and quality of greenhouse cucumber cv. Khassib

ʹKhassibʹ cucumber was grafted onto five Cucurbita rootstocks including three interspecific hybrids and two native cultivars to examine scion-rootstock compatibility and to correlate plant performance under greenhouse conditions. Commercial cultivars, ʹAzmanʹ, ʹFerroʹ and ʹRS841ʹ and ʹC. maximaʹ and ʹC. moschataʹ were used as rootstock and non-grafted plants used as control. Plant length (at 30 day after planting, DAP and end of experiment), leaf number (30 DAP), hypocotyl diameter for rootstock and scion and internodes length (30 DAP); fruit yield (at early, middle and final harvesting periods), ratio of length to diameter, dry matter and ratio of marketable to unmarketable fruits were recorded. Various rootstocks were significantly different in survival rate with ʹC. maximaʹ having a higher rate. Vegetative growth of the grafted cucumber varied markedly, indicating differences in compatibility between the scion and rootstocks. Significant differences in fruit yield were found in cucumbers grafted onto various rootstocks and ʹRS841ʹ had higher fruit yield at early and final harvests. At middle and final harvesting periods, the plants grafted onto ʹC. moschataʹ and ʹFerroʹ had higher yields, respectively. Significant differences were found among different rootstocks for fruit characteristics except fruit length to diameter ratio. According to the results, among the tested rootstocks, ʹRS841ʹ is the best one for cucumber cv. ʹKhassibʹ duce to its high survival rate and high fruit yield.