Abstract:
Foliar fertilization is a crucial technique for providing nutrients to crops. It has been
employed to deliver additional dosages of plant hormones, stimulants, minor and major
nutrients, and other advantageous compounds. Main objective of this research was to
determine the effect of application of fish waste extraction on vegetative and yield
parameters of salad Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L). The experiment was set up according
to completely randomized design with four replicates for each treatment in a protected
plant house at the Faculty of Science, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. The tested
treatments were: Control (T1), Fertilizer recommendation given by Department of
Agriculture (DOA), Sri Lanka (T2), and four different concentrations of fish waste
extraction of 20 o/o (T3), 30 % (T4),40 % (T5), and 50 % (T6). Fish waste extraction was
applied at once in one week interval as a foliar application. The results showed thatT4
had significant effects (P<0.05) on the growth and yield of salad cucumber, compared to
the other treatments. The application of T4 significantly increased the height of plant
(475.4 + 2.99 cm), width of leaves (27 + 0.2 cm), number of leaves (50.5 + O.28),length
of leaves (26.87 + 0.23 cm), fruit weight (640 +47 .8g), fresh shoot weight (912.5 +23.69),
dry shoot weight (93.7 5 +2.39 g), fresh root weight (57.5 t | .4 g), dry root weight (5.8 +
0.17 g), number of seeds per fruit (257 + 5.25), number of fruits per plant (15 + 0.7), 100
seeds weight (4 + 0.07 g) .The 30% fish waste extraction was identified as the optimal
and economical rate for salad cucumber cultivation. These findings suggest that fish
waste extraction is a valuable alternative for reducing the use of inorganic fertilizers. This
study provides essential insights into the potential benefits of fish waste extraction for
sustainable and eco-friendly agricultural farming systems.
