Bucket-Drip Fertigation Effects on Vegetable (Cucumber) Grown on Tropical Acid Sands

High infiltration rate, leaching and erosion woes sustainable vegetable production on acid sands of southern Nigeria. To combat the problem, Bucket-Drip Fertigation (BDF) technology was tested for two dry seasons (no rainfall). Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) was sown as test crop. The soil was analyzed before and after each experiment. The treatments were: source of water (drip or hand watering or 0); source of nutrients (fertigation or dry broadcast or 0) and surface cover (with or without plastic mulch). The treatments were replicated three times and laid out using Randomized Complete Blocks (RCB) design. The soil infiltration rate exceeded 25 cm h-1 suggesting sprinkler or drip system as appropriate. Volume of irrigation water supplied every second day was 0.05 m3 uniformly per 15 m2 bed. Results showed that BDF and plastic mulch proved superior to other tested sources water and nutrient applications. On first trial, BDF significantly (p<0.01) increased the fruits yield of edible cucumber from 0.77-2.30 Mg ha-1. In the second experiment, BDF+WPM, BDF+BS and BS+NPK increased cucumber yield by 125, 10 and 17%, respectively. Thus, drip fertigation with bucket kit could be particularly useful for small scale vegetable production during dry seasons in southern Nigeria.