Effects of vermicompost produced from cow manure on the growth, yield and nutrition contents of cucumber (Cucumis sativus)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of vermicompost on the growth, yield and nutrient contents of cucumber grown under the glasshouse conditions. This experiment was performed in completely randomized design with five replications. The base medium (control) was selected to be a mixture of 75% farm soil with 25% sand that had been substituted with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60% by volume of cow manure vermicompost. The highest leaf area, stem numbers, stem and root dry weight, fruit yield, and chlorophyll content were resulted from substitution of base medium with10 and 20% vermicompost that were significantly different from control (P≤0.05). Further, increase in the vermicompost content of the base medium, reduced the stem height, leaf area, stem dry weight, root dry weight, and chlorophyll content. Plant yield was the lowest in the 50% and 60% vermicompost medium. Shoot macro and micro-nutrient content such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, manganese, and copper increased significantly in response to the increase in vermicompost ratio from 0 to 60%, therefore, the lowest and the highest of these nutrient contents were observed in the control and 60% vermicompost, respectively, and even in some cases, nutrients content reached the toxic levels.

Keywords

• biofertilizer
• chlorophyll index
• fruit yield
• organic farming
• soil fertility