2025 Volume 24 Issue 3 Pages 231-240
Rejuvenation pinching is one of the training techniques for lowering cultivation of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), in which the harvesting shoot is regularly updated with a new axillary shoot stimulated by pinching. It is considered utilizable for managements of labor and fruit development; however, the ecophysiological effects of its repetition on cucumber growth and yield remain elusive. To address this, we analyzed the winter-spring greenhouse cultivations of ‘S-27Z’ conducted in 2021 and 2020 with and without rejuvenation, respectively, based on yield components. The cucumber plants undergoing rejuvenation exhibited a reduced fresh yield (23.3 kg・m–2) compared with those without rejuvenation (51.5 kg・m–2). Fruit abortions were not frequent with either cultivation. Total aboveground dry-matter production was also decreased in the rejuvenating cultivation, and the corresponding light-use efficiency was suppressed. It was suggested that the yield decrease was caused mainly by a reduction in the number of nodes and consequent decrease in fruit sets, which suppressed the dry-matter distribution to the fruits. Consistent with this, axillary shoot outgrowth after pinching was temporarily and continuously suppressed in winter and spring, respectively, with accompanying changes in the aboveground dry-matter partitioning. We propose that rejuvenation pinching is preferable on taking its negative effects on the yield and incidence of fruit abortions into account.
