Cucumber (Cucumis sativus, L.) water use efficiency (WUE) under plastic mulch and drip irrigation

Abstract

The results of the study indicated that (DI + TM) treatment excelled all other treatments at yield and water use efficiency (WUE), where its yield was 63.9 t ha−1, and (WUE) was 0.262 t ha−1 mm−1, while (DI + BM) treatment produced 57.9 t ha−1, with a (WUE) of 0.238 t ha−1 mm−1. However cucumber yield and WUE declined in the remaining treatments of no mulch (DI) and (SI) to reach 44.1 t ha−1 with 0.153 t ha−1 mm−1 and 37.7 t ha−1 with 0.056 t ha−1 mm−1, respectively. The results showed that (DI + TM) treatment gave the highest soil temperature and moisture during both of the seasons in comparison to (DI + BM). This enhanced its vegetative growth and almost doubled its productivity compared to the SI treatment.