Optimizing Cucumber Growth and Yield with Organic Amendments: Impact of Compost, Vermicompost, and Vermiwash on Plant Performance and Nutrient Enrichment
Frequent use synthetic chemical fertilizers in vegetable crop production provide shot term yield gain but it imposes long term soil erosion. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage cost effective and ecofriendly strategy for sustainable vegetable crop production. The aim of the study was to evaluate impact of organic fertilizers (compost, vermicompost and vermiwash) for improving sustainable cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) production. In this study, we found compost, vermicompost, and vermiwash supplementation exhibited differential impacts for enhancing leaf number, fruit length, acquisition of nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K), improving plant biomass and total cucumber yield. Compost increased leaf number per plant, followed by vermicompost. Application of vermicompost 4 showed the highest cucumber size (18.41 ± 0.63 cm). Vermicompost2 showed the highest level of nitrogen (2.82 ± 0.05%) accumulation in cucumber. Among the three organic fertilizers, the vermicompost amendment showed the better performance for improving total plant biomass and cucumber yield, suggesting that vermicompost application could be better option for improving cucumber yield. These findings together suggest that the cost effective and eco-friendly organic amendment-based strategy would be effective to horticulturists and farmers for sustainable cucumber and other horticultural plant production.