Abstract:

Cucumis sativus was studied to investigate the effect of different ratios of wind-sand soil and soft sandstone compound soil on its growth and yield. The wind-sand soil was combined with soft sandstone in the ratios of 1:0, 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 0:1, 3:1, and 5:1, and the chestnut calcium soil at a depth of 10 cm in the test area outside the greenhouse was set as the control soil sample (CK). This study investigated the most suitable compound soil ratio for cucumber growth by comparing the differences of growth characteristics of C. sativus such as plant height, crown breadth and fruit setting amount under different compound soil ratios. The results show that: (1) when the wind-sand soil is compounded with soft sandstone in the ratio of 1:3, the C. sativus plant height is 81.50 cm, the east-west crown breadth is 30.50 cm, the north-south crown breadth is 29.50 cm, the total fruit mass is 1475.80 g, and the weight of a single melon is 147.58 g; all the indexes are the optimal except the east-west crown breadth; (2) with the growth of seedlings, the growth characteristics gradually show a linear increasing trend, and C. sativus cultivated in the 1:3 ratio of compound soil has the fastest growth rate in all periods, with 73.25 cm of plant height growth, 22.50 cm of east-west crown breadth growth, and 23.00 cm of north-south crown breadth growth from July 22 to September 16. In conclusion, the 1:3 compound ratio of wind-sand soil to soft sandstone is beneficial to the growth of cucumber and can promote fruit setting.

Key words: soft sandstone, compound soil, Cucumis sativus, growth characteristics, plant height, crown breadth