Productivity and Economics of Some Soil Fertility Management Practices on Cucumber Production in Abakaliki, Southeastern Nigeria

Field experiments on the productivity and economics of some soil fertility management practices on cucumber production were conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replications on the research farm of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, located at latitude 060 19 407 N, longitude 080 7 831 E, at an altitude of 447 m above sea level, with annual rainfall of 1700 mm to 2060 mm. In all the trials, NPK (15: 15: 15) consistently gave the highest number of fruits (79.21 plot-1) and fruit weight (29.18 kg plot-1), followed by dry slaughterhouse refuse with 67.25 plot-1 and 24.77 kg plot-1, black plastic mulch with 64.26 plot-1 and 24.26 kg plot-1, poultry manure with 63.73 plot-1 and 23.48 kg plot-1, dry grass mulch with 62.78 plot-1 and 23.27 kg plot-1, urea with 43.29 plot-1 and 15.94 kg plot-1 while, the control was the least with 41.02 fruits plot-1 and weighed 15.12 kg plot-1. Higher income was as well generated to the farmer by NPK (15: 15: 15) fertilizer application with a conservative sum of 2.86 million naira per hectare, 2.74 million naira from DSHR, 2.40 million naira from DGM, 2.32 million naira from BPM, 2.22 million naira from poultry manure, 1.52 million naira from the control and 1.44 million naira from urea. These results show that the soil fertility can be managed profitably under cucumber for high productivity and income generation to the farmer and to any youth who would want to seek for livelihood in crop production.