The Effect of Cultivation Term, Substrate and Cultivar on Chemical Composition of Cucumber Fruit (Cucumis sativus L.) in Greenhouse Production

Cucumber is one of the vegetable species which are often grown under covers. Yielding and fruit quality in turn depends mainly on the time of cultivation and the substrate type used. Two cultivars of greenhouse cucumber 'Pacto F-1' and 'Melen F-1' were used in this experiment. Plants were grown on three different substrates (rock wool, perlite, wood fibre) in three cultivation terms: spring time (set 29.01.2007), summer time (set 16.05.2007) and autumn time (set 28.08.2007). Chemical analyses of cucumber fruit were carried out for each cultivation cycle. The results showed that the higher content of dry matter was obtained in the fruits from spring and summer harvest as well as from cultivation on rock wool. The time of cultivation significantly affected the content of vitamin C and carotenoids. Cucumber fruits obtained from autumn cultivation were characterized by a higher content of nitrogen and phosphorus and a higher content of calcium and potassium was observed in fruits from summer cultivation.