• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.226-233
• /
• 2023

High solar radiation in summer season causes excessive respiration of crops and reduces photosynthesis. In addition, the rainy season, which mainly occurs in summer, causes a low light condition inside the greenhouse. A low light condition can reduce crop growth and yield. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of shade and supplemental lighting on the growth and yield of cucumber during summer season. Cucumber grafted seedlings were transplanted in two plastic greenhouses on August 30, 2022. To reduce the light intensity inside the greenhouse, a 50% shading screen was installed in one greenhouse. Supplemental lighting was conducted from September 7, 2022 to October 20, 2022. HPS (high-pressure sodium lamp), W LED (white LED, red:green:blue = 5:3:2), and RB LED (combined red and blue LED, red:blue = 7:3) were used for supplemental lighting sources, and non-treated (nonsupplemental lighting) was as the control. The supplemental lighting was conducted before sunrise and after sunset for 2 hours with a photosynthetic photon flux density of 150 ± 20 µmol·m^-2·s^-1. The plant height, leaf length, leaf width, and SPAD value tended to increase in the shading group. RB LED increased stem diameter regardless of shading treatment. Fresh and dry weights of fruits were not significantly different in shading and supplemental lighting. Average fresh weight of fruits was not significantly different among supplemental lighting as the harvest date passed. In conclusion, in this study 50% shade treatment significantly improved the growth of cucumber during the summer season. In addition, the growth and fruit characteristics are better than the control without supplemental lighting. This study can be used as basic research data for applying supplemental lighting technology to cucumber cultivation.