Fertigation as a tool to improve nitrogen use efficiency and yield

A greenhouse experiment was carried out at Almuzahemiah Research Station, King Abdulaziz; City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to evaluate the effect of fertigation on cucumber yield. There were five treatments, N-0 = control, soil N-s = 120 mg N L-1 and three treatments labeled N-15 (N-1 = 60, N-2 = 120 and N-3 = 180 mg N-15 L-1) to study their effect on cucumber (cultivar Figaro F-1) yield during 1996. The highest yield was 33.74 t ha(-1) from N-3 and the lowest 7.73 t ha(-1) from the control treatment. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) varied between 72.7 - 129.53 kg kg(-1) N in the different N treatments. The mean N-15 a.e. ranged from 0.010 - 0844 % (leaves), 0.058 - 0.855 % (shoots), 0.044 - 0.747 % (roots) and 0.07 - 0.823 % (fruits). In conclusion, nitrogen application through fertigation was more effective than the conventional method (soil application) for improving the greenhouse crop yields.