EFFECT OF MULCHING AND DIFFERENT RATES OF COMPOST ON GROWTH AND PRODUCTION OF THREE CUCUMBER HYBRIDS

To evaluate the  growth and productivity of  three cucumber hybrids i.e “Hakim”, “Ghazeer” and “Hayel” under mulching  , and four level of composting i.e zero, 4.67, 7 and 9.33 Ton/Fed ., a field study were carried out in two seasons 2021 and 2022 at Experimental Farm Faculty of Agriculture  , Minia University, Egypt .   The results showed that the three hybrids differed significantly under our experiment conditions which “Ghazeer” followed by “Hakim” hybrids were superior in it’s early and total yield in compared with “Hayel” Using mulching technique improved cucumber parameters such as plant height , leaf  area and both fresh and dry weight.  Also early and total yield growth and their components were increased with mulching   compared with bare soil. Thus,  using mulching could be used to  grow cucumber plant in open field under El-Minia Egypt condition in the low night temperature of September . Regarding to the composting effect, data of our experiment showed that the rate 4.67 and 7 Ton/fed  were the best treatment in compare with zero and  9.33 ton/fed . Those treatments gave  the best growth and yield of the three cucumber hybrids .