Morpho-Physiology and Yield of Cucumber (Cucumis sativa) Under Varying Light Intensity

An experiment was conducted at the research farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh with the cucumber cv. Modumoti to evaluate the porpho-physiological characters and yield performance under four different levels of light (100, 75, 50 and 25% PAR). Significant differences were observed among the treatments in response to different evaluated characters. Main stem length, internode length and individual leaf area increased, whereas main stem diameter and numbers of leaves per plant decreased due to the reduced light levels. At 50% PAR number of leaves per plant decreased markedly. Leaf weight ratio (LWR) remained more or less similar up to 50% reduction of PAR. SPAD value increased with the reduction of PAR level i.e. partial shading stimulated chlorophyll synthesis in leaves. Compared to 100% PAR the total dry matter (TDM) was not reduced by reduction of light up to 50% PAR level. Cucumber produced the highest yield (15.32 t ha ) at full sunlight. Significant fruit yield reduction was observed at 25% PAR in cucumber. However, 1 considering TDM and fruit yield cucumber were found suitable for reduced light condition (up to 50% PAR).