• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.155-158
• /
• 2001

The cultivation area of white spined cucumbers for export has continuously increased up to 121 ha in 2000. Since white spined cucumbers set fruits on lateral shoots, fruit yield is dependent upon the development of lateral shoots. Unfortunately, the major cultivation period is during winter season, October to February, when temperature and light are limited for the development lateral shoots. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of soil heating on the development of lateral shoots in white spined cucumbers. Number of lateral shoots were 13.7 and 11.7 in the soil heated treatment and in the control, respectively. Number of marketable fruits per plant was 45 in the soil heated treatment as compared to 38 in the control. Fruit yield was 81 ton per ha, an 18% increase, in the soil heated treatment. Soil heating not only increased number of long lateral shoots but also decreased curved fruits.