Version 1
: Received: 20 June 2021 / Approved: 21 June 2021 / Online: 21 June 2021 (14:22:35 CEST)
How to cite:
Magwaza, N.G.; Maluleke, M.K.; Koopa, K.G. The Effect of Hand Pollination on the Yield of African Horned Cucumber (Cucumis metuliferus E. May. Ex Naudin) Grown under Protected Environments. Preprints2021, 2021060517. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0517.v1
Magwaza, N.G.; Maluleke, M.K.; Koopa, K.G. The Effect of Hand Pollination on the Yield of African Horned Cucumber (Cucumis metuliferus E. May. Ex Naudin) Grown under Protected Environments. Preprints 2021, 2021060517. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0517.v1
Magwaza, N.G.; Maluleke, M.K.; Koopa, K.G. The Effect of Hand Pollination on the Yield of African Horned Cucumber (Cucumis metuliferus E. May. Ex Naudin) Grown under Protected Environments. Preprints2021, 2021060517. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0517.v1
APA Style
Magwaza, N.G., Maluleke, M.K., & Koopa, K.G. (2021). The Effect of Hand Pollination on the Yield of African Horned Cucumber (<em>Cucumis metuliferus</em> E. May. Ex Naudin) Grown under Protected Environments. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0517.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Magwaza, N.G., Mdungazi Knox Maluleke and Katlego Gustaff Koopa. 2021 "The Effect of Hand Pollination on the Yield of African Horned Cucumber (<em>Cucumis metuliferus</em> E. May. Ex Naudin) Grown under Protected Environments" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202106.0517.v1
Abstract
Pollination is the process by which pollen grains are exchanged in plant flowers to allow for fertilisation and production to take place. However, challenges occur when crops are grown under protected structures where there are minimal activities of natural pollination agents such as wind and animals which are responsible for transferring pollen grains from the anther to the stigma. Therefore, the study objective was to determine the effect on hand pollination on the yield of African horned cucumber grown under greenhouse and shade net environment. A factorial experiment with two factors (hand pollinated and non-hand pollinated/control) was conducted under two different growing environments (greenhouse and shade net). African horned cucumber plants were hand self-pollinated in the morning. Pollen were manually transferred with a hand using the new earbud from the male to the female flowers on the same plant (selfing). Results showed that hand pollinated African horned cucumber plants increased total biomass from 0.93 to 2.23 kg under greenhouse environment. Hand pollinated plants increased harvest index from 0.07 to 0.35 under shade net environment. It can thus, be deduced that hand pollination increases African horned cucumber yield in the greenhouse and shade net environments.
Keywords
Harvest index; total biomass; fruit number; fruit length
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
