RESPONSE OF CUCUMBER (CUCUMIS SATIVUS L.) TO THE RATES OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER APPLICATION ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD IN JOS, PLATEAU STATE

This research work was conducted at the Federal College of Forestry, Jos students’ demonstration farm to investigate the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on the growth and yield of cucumber. The treatments consist of Nitrogen rates at 0, 20, 40 and 60kg N ha-1. The treatments were laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were recorded on vine length, number of branches, number of leaves, number of flowers, days to 50% flowering, fruit length per plant, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight per plant and total yield. All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of significance using SPSS 26 version statistical package to test the treatment effects and where significance was declared Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) was used to separate the means. The results obtained from this research findings indicates that the growth and yield of cucumber are significantly influenced by N fertilization. The highest vine length (218.00 can), number of branches (17.00), number of leaves (95.00), number of fruits per plant (32.67), fruit length per plant (19.33 cm), fruit weight per plant (2.00 kg) and total yield (41.50 t/ha) were obtained at T3. While T2 produced the highest number of flowers (11.33) and T3 gave the least number of days for the cucumber plant to reach 50% flowering. It can be concluded based on the findings that N fertilization significantly affect the growth and yield of cucumber.