Dear readers, in this opportunity we will describe a crop used for its fruit known as cucumber and whose scientific name is Cucumis sativus and that according to Guzmán (2007), the plant is native to the tropical regions of South Asia, it is a fruit that is widely used for fresh consumption such as salad, which represents a production alternative for the farmer both for national and international marketing this crop has different general characteristics both botanical and edaphoclimatic that will be broken down in this publication.
Without further ado let's get started!
Radical system: said system is made up of a main or pivoting root which begins to branch into finer secondary roots, this plant has the particularity of emitting adventitious roots, that is, superficial roots.
Stem and leaf: mainly in terms of the stem they present pubescence, of creeping and climbing bearing and the leaves of long petiole, large with cored lamina, dark green and pubescent that is to say covered with villi.
- Flower: the flowers have a short peduncle and yellow petals and appear in the axils of the leaves and can be hermaphrodite or unisexual, although currently as reported by some researchers the varieties that are marketed only have female flowers.
- Fruit: the fruit of the cucumber is a berry, since it is a fleshy fruit that has several seeds inside, it is an elongated fruit that has a green color and can reach the yellow color when ripe, for its harvest it is advisable to make it before it reaches its physiological maturity.
Regarding its edaphoclimatic characteristics we can mention the following:
Cucumber cultivation is a temperate climate, when the plant is at the stage of development, if a sharp decrease in temperature occurs for a few days, it may lead to the plant blooming prematurely. According to López (2006), this plant adapts to warm and temperate climates and can be cultivated from 1,200 meters above sea level; it also mentions that over 40°C the growth stops and with temperatures below 14°C, in the same way, and if this temperature is prolonged, the female flowers fall off.
On the other hand, regarding humidity, there are reports that indicate that the optimal relative humidity is in a range of 60-70% during the day and 70-90% at night. However, excessive humidity during the day can reduce production, because it can affect the root system. Regarding the luminosity Valadez (1998), points out that it is a plant that develops and produces both in short days with less than 12 hours of daylight and long days, logically the greater the amount of solar radiation there is the possibility that the higher the production.
As for precipitation as mentioned above, although the humidity levels it supports are relatively high, an excess of water from precipitation could generate some diseases. As for soils, cucumber can be grown on a wide diversity of fertile, well-drained soils; according to what was reported by López (2006), from sandy to clay loam, although loam soils that have abundant organic matter are ideal for its development, in the case of the southern zone of Lake Maracaibo of Venezuela it is found with this type of loam soils, the pH, which tolerates this crop is in a range of 5.5-6.8, even supporting PH up to 7.5, it is important to avoid acidic soils with pH less than 5.5, because it can affect the productive activity of the crop .
Dear readers, we hope that the information provided will be useful to all of you and will allow you to know a little more about the characteristics of this type of crops.
Thank you for reading our article, until a next installment!
Guzmán, P. (2007). Cultivation of cucumber. Agricultural Vegetable Series Nº VI 2dª Edition Publishers Espasande. Caracas Venezuela 13-15 and 34-36p.
López, M. (2006). Horticulture. 2nd Ed. Threshing. Mexico-
Valadez, A. (1998). Production of vegetables. Limousine. Mexico.
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