Estimation of Dry Matter Production and Yield Prediction in Greenhouse Cucumber without Destructive Measurements

Summary

In this study, we aimed to estimate dry matter (DM) production and fresh fruit yield in “Fresco-dash” (FD) and “Project X” (PX) cucumber cultivars using an empirical model developed for tomatoes. First, we cultivated the two cucumber cultivars under a hydroponic system for about six months. Also, parameters related to DM production such as light use efficiency (LUE), light extinction coefficient (k), DM distribution of fruits (DMD), and fruit dry matter content (DMC) were measured via destructive measurements. The k, DMD and DMC values were 0.99 and 0.93, 46.0 and 45.2, 3.84 and 3.78 in “Fresco Dash” and “Project X”, respectively. Second, we cultivated cucumbers to estimate DM production and fruit fresh yield using the model without destructive measurement for about eight months and valida