Effect of transplant age and fruit pruning on earliness and total yield of greenhouse cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Sultan)

Greenhouse cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a warm season vegetable which is more useful than other greenhouse vegetables. To determine the effects of five transplant ages and three fruit pruning methods on early harvest of greenhouse cucumber cv. Sultan, two independent experiments were conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments in the first experiment included transplant age at four levels [transplants with two cotyledonous leaves (A0), one (A1), two (A2), three (A3) and four true leaves (A4)] and the treatments in the second experiment included fruit pruning with three levels [fruit un-pruning (P0) and fruit pruning up to the height of 30 cm (P1) and 60 cm (P2)]. The results of the first experiment showed that during the first ten days of harvest, the number of fruits produced by transplants with two cotyledonous leaves and one, two, three and four true leaves was 0, 4, 28, 31 and 63, respectively. The early harvest of the transplants with four true leaves was 15 times as much as that of transplants with one true leaf. Total yield of transplants with four true leaves was 1.8 times as much as that of transplants with two cotyledonous leaves. Total yield of transplants with two cotyledonous leaves and one, two, three and four true leaves was 0.716, 0.988, 1.712, 1.228 and 1.308 kg/ha, respectively. The results of the second experiment showed that during the first ten days of the harvest, the yield of the un-pruned plants was 1.7 and 74 times as high as that of plants pruned up to the heights of 30 and 60 cm, respectively. Total yield of un-pruned plants and plants pruned up to the heights of 30 and 60 cm was 1.47, 1.22 and 1.16 kg/plant, respectively. To have early-maturing cucumber cv. Sultan, it is recommended to use transplants with four true leaves and not to prune the fruits of the main stem and just to cut the axillary branches.