Yield and Quality Response of Cucumber to Irrigation and Nitrogen Fertilization Under Subsurface Drip Irrigation in Solar Greenhouse

The aims of this research were to compare subsurface drip irrigation scheduling and nitrogen fertilization rates in cucumber, and evaluate yield and quality of cucumber fruit, water (WUE), irrigation water (IWUE), and nitrogen use (NUE) efficiencies in the solar greenhouse in Southwest China. The irrigation water amounts were determined based on the 20 cm diameter pan (Ep) placed over the crop canopy, and cucumber plant was subjected to three irrigation water levels (I1, 0.6 Ep; I2, 0.8 Ep; and I3, 1.0 Ep) in interaction with three nitrogen fertilization levels (N1, 300 kg ha−1; N2, 450 kg ha−1; and N3, 600 kg ha−1). The results showed that the cucumber fruit yield increased with the improvement of irrigation water. Irrigation water increased yields by increasing the mean weight of the fruits, and also by increasing fruit number. But the highest values of IWUE and WUE were obtained from I2 treatment. NUE significantly decreased with the improvement of N application, but increased by irrigating more water. The quality of cucumber fruit decreased with the improvement irrigation water and nitrogen fertilization. In conclusion, the optimum irrigation level and nitrogen fertilizer application level for cucunber under subsurface drip irrigation in the solar greenhouse in Southwest China were 0.8 Ep and 450 and 600 kg ha−1, respectively.