Cucumber Response to Drip Irrigation and Bio-Mineral Fertilizers Management under Protected Cultivation Conditions

Greenhouse experiments were carried out in the Gammsa district of Dakahlya Governorate over two seasons (2016/2017 and 2017/2018), to investigate the impact of three drip irrigation levels, (100 , 80 and 65% of soil field capacity (FC), donated as I1, I2 and I3, respectively and partial replacement of biofertilizers to mineral fertilizers, F1 (100% RNPK), F2 (75% RNPK +50% of mixture of biofertale + rhizobacterien) and F3 (55% RNPK + 100% of mixture of biofertale + rhizobacterien), on cucumber yield and its components. The economic return was considered as well. The results revealed that both irrigation and fertilization treatments had a highly significant impact on cucumber plant yield and attributes. In both seasons, the I2 and F3 treatments produced the highest cucumber fruit yield and the majority of its components. In the first and second seasons, respectively, fruit yield increased by (21.87 and 22.29%) in the I2-treatment compared to I1, and by the comparable values (10.78 and 13.18%) in the F3-treatment compared to F1. In both seasons, the combination of I2 and F2 or F3 produced the highest values of net revenue, net revenue per water unit, and economic efficiency numbers, moreover, the I3 treatment surpassed the I1 treatment in terms of irrigation water productivity and water savings. In conclusion: Under greenhouse conditions using sandy soil, I2 paired with F2 or F3 is the most effective treatment for obtaining an economical cucumber fruit production, economic return, and saving water and mineral fertilizers.