Influence of Pelleted and Unpelleted Composted Organic Waste Materials on Growth, Dry Matter Accumulation and Yield of Three Varieties of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) in the Greenhouse

The study was conducted in a greenhouse to determine the influence of pelleted and unpelleted composted organic waste materials on the morphological growth, dry matter accumulation and yield of three varieties of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). The experiment was a 3 × 13 factorial trial in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The trial consisted of one hundred and seventeen polythene pots laid out in the greenhouse of the Teaching and Research Farm of Department of Crop Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The treatments were pelleted and unpelleted composted rice husks (100%), moringa pod husks (100%), maize cobs (100%), rice husks + poultry manure (75%:25%, volume to volume; v/v), moringa pod husks + poultry manure (75%:25%,v/v), maize cobs + poultry manure (75%:25%,v/v), control and three varieties of cucumber (Poinsett, Marketer and Supermarketer) giving a total of thirty-nine treatment combinations. Cucumber plants grown in soil amended with unpelleted composted rice husks + poultry (75%:25%, v/v) had significantly (P = .05) the highest values of plant height, leaf area per plant, number of leaves per plant, stem girth, dry matter accumulation in the leaves and stems while those grown in the pelleted rice husks + poultry manure significantly (P = .05) gave the highest values of dry matter accumulation in the roots of the three cucumber varieties after six weeks of planting (the peak of vegetative growth). The unpelleted rice husks + poultry manure significantly (P = .05) also gave the highest values of number of fruits and fruit weight per plant. Supermarketer gave the highest values of the morphological growth traits, dry matter accumulation and yield in all the treatments followed by Marketer, then Poinsett.