Unfavourable thermal conditions of air at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries reducing crop productivity of pickling cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in Poland

Abstract

Growing influence of anthropopressure and irregular changes in weather conditions necessitated conducting agroclimatic research into the assessment of plant cultivation risk caused by unfavourable meteorological conditions, including thermal conditions of air. The goal of the work was to assess the risk of pickling cucumber field cultivation in Poland caused by an unfavorable course of air temperature (Ta) in the period from sowing to the end of harvesting at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. To accomplish the goal, the study used data describing growth, development and crop productivity of cucumber in the years 1966-2005. Data was used concerning the described thermal conditions with the average Ta in the whole growing season of the analysed plant. The data came from 28 experimental stations and 53 meteorological in Poland. The effect of Ta in the growing season (sowing-end of harvesting) on the total and marketable yield of cucumber was evaluated. The study used curvilinear regression analysis with two variables. The highest risk of cucumber’s cultivation caused by unfavorable thermal conditions of air was recorded in south-western, south-eastern, and also northern and north-eastern Poland. In these high risk areas reduction in the total yield oscillated between 15% and even over 21% below the multi-annual average. Reduction in the total yield occurred with frequency from 40% to above 80%. In south-western and south-eastern Poland, a reduction in the marketable yield amounted to maximally above 15%. A marketable yield reduction occurred with a frequency of from 50% to above 70%.