Evaluating the impact of mulching and fertilizer combinations in maximizing cucumber (<i>Cucumis sativus</i> L.) growth and production

Table 1.

Soil nutritional condition of the study site.

Treatment	Details
T_{1 (M1F0)}	Mulching and control (without fertilizer)
T_{2 (M1F1)}	Mulching and FYM only
T_{3 (M1F2)}	Mulching and RDF of NPK
T_{4 (M1F3)}	Mulching and combination of FYM and NPK
T_{5 (M2F0)}	Non-mulching and control
T_{6 (M2F1)}	Non-mulching and FYM only
T_{7 (M2F2)}	Non-mulching and RDF of NPK
T_{8 (M2F3)}	Non-mulching and combination of FYM and NPK
RDF stands for Recommended dose of fertilizer (For NPK = 140:40:100 NPK/ha; For farmyard manure = 30 t/ha).

Table 2.

Treatment details used in the experiment.

Treatment	Plant height (cm)
Treatment	15 DAT	30 DAT	45 DAT
Factor A
Mulching	33.98^a	143.10^a	170.80^a
Non-mulching	28.92^b	128.81^b	149.16^b
LSD (0.05)	2.63	3.03	3.033
SEM (±)	0.43	0.93	0.8
F-test	**	***	***
CV (%)	9.55	4.74	3.45
Factor B
Control	27.29^c	119.0^c	141.20^d
FYM	30.50^bc	125.87^c	149.74^c
NPK	31.98^b	140.29^b	167.77^b
FYM + NPK	36.04^a	158.66^a	181.23^a
LSD (0.05)	3.72		3.033
SEM (±)	0.31	0.66	0.56
F-test	**	***	***
CV (%)	9.55	4.74	3.45
Grand mean	31.45	135.96	159.98
A × B
F-test	NS	NS	**
DAT = Days after transplanting; Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05); SEM (±) = Standard error of the mean; CV = Coefficient of variation; LSD = Least significant difference; = significant at p < 0.01; * = significant at p < 0.001.

Table 3.

Effect of mulching and fertilizers on plant height of cucumber.

Plant height (cm) at 45 DAT
Treatments	Mulching	Non-mulching
Control	145.69^ef	136.71^f
FYM	156.39^d	143.08^ef
NPK	184.89^b	150.66^de
FYM + NPK	196.25^a	166.21^c
SEM (±)	0.4
LSD (0.05)	9.68
F-test	**
CV (%)	3.45
Grand mean	159.98
DAT = Days after transplanting; Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05); SEM (±) = Standard error of the mean; CV = Coefficient of variation; LSD = Least significant difference; ** = significant at p < 0.01.

Table 4.

Interaction effect of mulching and fertilizer on plant height at 45 DAT.

Treatment	Number of branches
Treatment	15 DAT	30 DAT	45 DAT
Factor A
Mulching	1.50	4.70^a	5.35^a
Non-mulching	1.79	3.43^b	4.29^b
LSD (0.05)	0.30	0.21	0.429
SEM (±)	0.05	0.04	0.07
F-test	NS	***	***
CV (%)	21.09	6.13	10.17
Factor B
Control	1.58	4.02^ab	4.47^b
FYM	1.50	4.29^a	5.41^a
NPK	1.70	4.16^a	4.81^ab
FYM + NPK	1.79	3.79^b	4.58^b
LSD (0.05)	0.43	0.309	0.607
SEM (±)	0.04	0.03	0.05
F-test	NS	*	*
CV (%)	21.09	6.13	10.17
Grand mean	1.64	4.06	4.82
A × B
F-test	NS	NS	NS
DAT = Days after transplanting; Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05); SEM (±) = Standard error of the mean; CV = Coefficient of variation; LSD = Least significant difference; * = significant at p < 0.05; NS = Non-significant.

Table 5.

Effect of mulching and fertilizers on number of branches of cucumber.

Treatment	Number of leaves
Treatment	15 DAT	30 DAT	45 DAT
Factor A
Mulching	4.89^a	39.62^a	51.96^a
Non-mulching	4.18^b	27.20^b	37.96^b
LSD (0.05)	0.29	3.67	3.35
SEM (±)	0.05	0.61	0.55
F-test	***	***	***
CV (%)	7.51	12.55	8.52
Factor B
Control	4.45^ab	29.12^b	38.08^c
FYM	4.70^a	35.04^a	45.29^b
NPK	4.75^a	32.54^ab	43.96^b
FYM + NPK	4.25^b	36.95^a	52.50^a
LSD (0.05)	0.42	5.19	4.74
SEM (±)	0.03	0.43	0.39
F-test	NS	*	***
CV (%)	7.51	12.55	16.89
Grand mean	4.54	33.41	44.96
A × B
F-test	NS	NS	NS
DAT = Days after transplanting; Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05); SEM (±) = Standard error of the mean; CV = Coefficient of variation; LSD = Least significant difference; * = significant at p < 0.05; *** = significant at p < 0.001; NS = Non-significant.

Table 6.

Effect of mulching and fertilizers on number of leaves of cucumber.

Treatment	Fruit set/plant	Fruit length (cm)	Fruit diameter (cm)
Factor A
Mulching	13.73^a	20.68^a	5.29^a
Non-mulching	10.82^b	19.28^b	5.23^a
LSD (0.05)	1.06	1.19	0.41
SEM (±)	0.17	0.20	0.07
F-test	***	NS	NS
CV (%)	9.94	6.85	9.02
Factor B
Control	9.99^c	19.33	5.20
FYM	12.16^b	20.21	5.25
NPK	12.26^b	19.86	5.27
FYM + NPK	14.68^a	20.54	5.31
LSD (0.05)	1.51	1.69	0.59
SEM (±)	0.122	0.14	0.05
F-test	**	NS	NS
CV (%)	9.94	6.85	9.01
Grand mean	12.27	19.98	5.26
A × B
F-test	NS	NS	NS
Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05); SEM (±) = Standard error of the mean; CV = Coefficient of variation; LSD = Least significant difference; = significant at p < 0.01; * = significant at p < 0.001; NS = Non-significant.

Table 7.

Effect of mulching and fertilizers on fruit set, fruit length and fruit diameter of cucumber.

Treatment	Yield/plant (g)	Yield (t/ha)
Factor A
Mulching	1,047.43^a	25.93^a
Non-mulching	673.33^b	18.37^b
LSD (0.05)	164.45	3.27
SEM (±)	27.10	0.54
F-test	***	***
CV (%)	21.82	16.87
Factor B
Control	878.93^ab	14.53^c
FYM	783.72^b	23.71^ab
NPK	745.14^b	22.39^b
FYM + NPK	1,033.74^a	27.97^a
LSD (0.05)	232.57	4.62
SEM (±)	19.169	0.38
F-test	*	***
CV (%)	21.82	16.87
Grand mean	860.38	22.15
A × B
F-test	NS	NS
Data in columns with the same letters in DMRT are not significantly different (p = 0.05); SEM (±) = Standard error of the mean; CV = Coefficient of variation; LSD = Least significant difference; * = significant at p < 0.05; *** = significant at p < 0.001; NS = Non-significant.

Table 8.

Effect of mulching and fertilizers on yield of cucumber.

Treatments	Total production costs (NRs./ha)	Yield (t/ha)	Average price of cucumber (NRs/kg)	Gross return (NRs.)	Net return (NRs.)	BCR
Mulching	154,500	25.93	20	518,600	364,100	2.35
Non-mulching	120,200	18.37	20	367,400	246,900	2.04
Control	125,500	14.53	20	290,600	165,100	1.31
FYM	138,303	23.71	20	474,200	335,897	2.42
NPK	142,500	22.39	20	447,800	305,300	2.14
FYM + NPK	155,303	27.97	20	559,400	404,097	2.6

Table 9.

Economic analysis of mulching and fertilizer combinations on cucumber growth and production.