Modifying Low Tunnels to Mitigate Heat Stress on Cucumber Grown under Late Summer Season Conditions

Abstract

Increasing agricultural revenues and productivity is crucial to getting food and reducing poverty. At the same time, increasing air temperature because of climate changes considered real safety threatens the agricultural production. Hence, it is vital to modify current agricultural practices to cope with these challenges particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. In this context, the current study was conducted in order to investigate. the possibility of improving cucumber productivity under heat stress conditions during the late summer season. The treatments included different protected cultivation techniques of cucumber, i.e., using soil mulch with white plastic cover, anti-stressor spray of aluminum silicate, shaded tunnel by net cover, misting under shaded tunnel by net cover, top white plastic sheet, misting without cover. The soils of all studied protected treatments were covered by white plastic mulch to decrease soil temperature and evaporation. All protected cultivation techniques were compared with the common open field cultivation without any protection (control). The results revealed that all modifications for the low tunnels ameliorated heat stress and reflected to better cucumber growth and fruit yield compared to open field cultivation. The tunnel with mist under net cover produced the highest plant growth and productivity.