Effect of soil solarization on cucumber production under cold glasshouse conditions

Soil solarization was carried out during the summer seasons of 2003 and 2004, using transparent polyethylene sheets of 50 p thickness as a tight cover for the previously prepared sand beds of the glasshouse for a period of 5 weeks. Four hybrid cucumber cultivars were seed sown in both seasons, under cold glasshouse conditions, one week after soil solarization or directly after soil preparation for the non-solarized soil (control). As compared to the control, soil solarization treatment markedly increased cucumber yield of each cultivar. This increase reached 2.68 and 2.87 folds in the first and the second seasons, respectively. Harvesting period of each cultivar in each season was, markedly, prolonged to about 1.7 folds compared to the control. 'Bazz' cultivar was the highest yielding hybrid, followed by 'Yasmin', while both 'Hesham' and 'Isatis' cultivars were the lowest yielding ones. These results were obtained, in both seasons, regardless of soil solarization treatment. No visual symptom of nematode infection was noticed in the roots of solarized soil. These visual symptoms were noticed clearly in all root samples of the non-solarized soil. In contrast to the control treatment, annual weeds and seedlings dumping off were eliminated by soil solarization. Based on the results obtained, soil solarization treatment proved its worth, as a rehabilitation treatment, to solve some of the company's technical problems in the field of cucumber production under cold greenhouse conditions.