ENHANCEMENT IN BIOMASS AND NUTRIENTS UPTAKE IN CUCUMBER THROUGH METHIONINE AND PHENYLALANINE UNDER SALINE SOILS

Cucumber is one of the important vegetables for nourishing human being due to the presence of nutrients and vitamins throughout the world. However, its production is decreasing due to several environmental stresses. Amongst the abiotic stresses, salinity is the foremost problems for agricultural crops which cause a great loss in crop production in the world. A number of management approaches have been executed to cope with salinity problem. However, the foliar application of amino acids to enhance plant tolerance under salt stress is a cost-effective technology being utilized in all over the world. For this purpose, the experiments were conducted to evaluate the foliar application of two amino acids i.e., phenylalanine (75 and 100 ppm) and methionine (25 and 50 ppm) separately and in combinations on four cucumber genotypes (HC-999, Valley, NSC-CM1 and Akbar). Results showed that 25 ppm methionine showed better behavior towards the enhancement of biomass production as compared to 50 ppm methionine and 75 and 100 ppm phenylalanine separately under saline and non-saline conditions. However in combinations, the 25 ppm methionine with 100 ppm phenylalanine showed better performance in non-saline and saline conditions in biomass production as compared to all other treatments of both amino acids separately and also in combined foliar sprays. The foliar application of 100 ppm phenylalanine showed better results in nutrients uptake as compared to other treatments of both amino acids separately under saline and non-saline conditions. Therefore the application of 25 ppm methionine with 100 ppm phenylalanine may be used to improve the quantity and quality of cucumber to grow in saline soils.