




































 AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL STUDIES 6(1) (2022), 8-11  

 

8 

 

      AGRICULTURAL STUDIES 

                                                               AIJAS VOL 6 NO 1 (2022) P-ISSN 2641-4155   E-ISSN 2641-418X 
                                                  

                                                                                                                        Available online at www.acseusa.org      

                                                                                                                                     Journal homepage: https://www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijas 

                                                                                                                                         Published by American Center of Science and Education, USA 

 HYDROPONICS PRODUCTION OF CUCUMBER AS SOIL FARMING 

ALTERNATIVE IN NIGERIA 

     

 Chukwunalu Okolie Ossai  (a)1    Stephanie Clara Akpeji  (b)   Ifeakachukwu Sunday Alama (c )    Fidelis Nduka Emuh (d)   
 

(a) Research Associate, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria; E-mail: ossaichukwunalu1@gmail.com 
(b) Lecturer, Microbiology Department, Novena University, Ogume, Delta State, Nigeria; Email: akpejistephanie@gmail.com  
(c) Lecturer, Soil/Crop Department, Dennis Osadebe University, Asaba, Nigeria; E-mail: ask.ifeakachukwu@gmail.com 
 (d) Professor, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria; Email: Fnemuh@yahoo.com 

 

 
A R T I C L E I N F O 

 
 

Article History: 
 

Received: 26 March 2022 

Accepted: 12 June 2022 

      Online Publication: 15 June 2022 

 
Keywords: 

Cucumis Sativa, Cocopeat 

Substrate, Soil Farming, Genotype 

 
      JEL Classification Codes:  

       

      Q15 

 

 

 
A B S T R A C T 

 
The constant farmers-herders clash has predisposed farmers to insecurity in Nigeria thereby making 

farming in open field difficult. The hydroponics system has gained popularity in the cultivation of 

vegetable crops around the World. However, in Nigeria, there is dearth of information on hydroponics 

usage as an alternative to soil farming. Hence, the need to investigate the suitability of producing 

cucumber in Nigeria using the hydroponics system compared to soil. Seeds of three cucumber varieties 

were grown in cocopeat substrate and topsoil in a 3 (genotypes) by 2 (substrate) factorial experiment 
laid in a completely randomized design with 3 replicates. Each plant was fertigated with 100 ml of 

liquefied poultry manure weekly and was watered every 3 days till harvest. Data were taken on the 

number of leaves, plant height, leaf area, days to flowering and fruiting, number of fruits and average 

fruit weight. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA and differences in the treatment means were 

separated using least significant differences at 5% level of significance. Result obtained showed 

significant differences among genotypes in the growth and yield parameters with Poinset having the 

highest number of fruits (6.88±0.57) and fruit weight (275.00±17.03), while the substrate effect was not 
significant. 

 

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee ACSE, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under 
the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license 

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).                                                                                   

 

INTRODUCTION 

Nigerian farmers predominantly practices shifting cultivation (Lawal, 2014) to ensure the basic nutrients in the soil are 

adequate enough to support the growth of the crops cultivated. However, the sole use of soil for agricultural purposes comes 

with its constraints ranging from pests and diseases, weed versus crops competition for space and nutrients, environmental 

pollution and the increasing rate of insecurity in the country due to farmers and herders clashes (Muhammed & Baba, 2019). 

The above mentioned farming constraints have led to the increasing advocacy for an alternative means of crop production. 

The above mentioned constraints can be circumvented by the adoption and practice of soilless farming system 

(hydroponics). The hydroponics system is much adapted to different environmental conditions as the green house condition 

can be adjusted at will, and has the ability to increase yield and quality of produce (Verdonck et al., 1983) and ensures the 

optimum use of nutrient and water (Savvas & Lenz, 2000). The cucumber (Cucumis sativa L.) is an important vegetable in 

the diet of Nigerians, however, the production requires extreme soil fertility management to obtain high yield. This requires 

intensive soil management to achieve, but with the hydroponics system, the nutrient and water regimes can be controlled 

with ease (Paul, 2000).  

The term hydroponics being defined as the cultivation of crops in any substrate other than soil. The availability of 

these substrates in an area is essential in choosing the one suitable for production in the locality. Although, different 

substrates have been successfully utilized in crop production, there is dearth of information on the use of cocopeat substrate 

in producing cucumber using the hydroponics system in Nigeria. Hence, this study aims at investigating the effectiveness 

of the use of cocopeat substrate in cucumber production in Nigeria while comparing it with Nigerian topsoil. 

 

                                                      
1Corresponding author: ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1924-5855 

© 2022 by the authors. Hosting by ACSE. Peer review under responsibility of American Center of Science and Education, USA.  

https://doi.org/10.46545/aijas.v6i1.253 

 
 

To cite this article: Ossai, C. O., Akpeji, S. C., Alama, I. S., & Emuh, F. N.  (2022). HYDROPONICS PRODUCTION OF CUCUMBER AS SOIL 

FARMING ALTERNATIVE IN NIGERIA. American International Journal of Agricultural Studies, 6(1), 8–11. https://doi.org/10.46545/aijas.v6i1.253 

https://doi.org/10.46545/aijas.v6i1.253
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1924-5855
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2191-8032
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4968-686X
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7664-0213


Ossai et al., American International Journal of Agricultural Studies 6(1) (2022), 8-11 

  

9 
 

 

METHODS 

Experimental Set Up 

Three varieties of cucumber (Poinset, Calypso and Murano) seeds and twenty-four troughs of drip system hydroponics 

troughs were purchased from the Soilless farmlab seed company, Abeokuta. Cocopeat in block form was purchased from 

Afri-Agri Company, Lagos. The buffered cocopeat blocks were dissolved in water. The cocopeat was used to fill in 12 

hydroponics troughs with perforations beneath for drainage purposes, while the remaining 12 troughs were filled with 

sterilized topsoil. The hydroponics troughs comprises of 8 litres capacity with 4 segments of 2 litres capacity each. Poultry 

droppings were sourced from Ajayi farm, Ibadan. The poultry manure was allowed to dry for one week, 1 g of the poultry 

manure was ground into fine particles and liquefied by soaking them in 1 Litre of water for two days. For the plants 

fertigation, 100 ml of the nutrient was used to fertigate each plant once per week and watering was done every 3 days till 

harvest. 2 litre capacity buckets were filled with the cocopeat and the cucumber seeds were sown directly, it was watered at 

3 days’ interval and inspected daily for the germination of the seeds. At one week interval, the germinated seedlings were 

transferred to the hydroponics set up.  

 

Experimental Design 

The experiment was a 2 (substrates) by 3 (varieties) factorial laid in a completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 

replicates.  

 

Data Collection and Statistical Analysis 

At bi-weekly intervals, data were taken on the plant height, number of leaves and leave area, while the number of days to 

50 % flowering, days to fruiting, number of fruits harvested and the fruit weights were collected. Data collected were 

analysed using ANOVA (SAS 9.0 version) and differences in treatment means were separated using least significance 

differences at 5 % level of significance. 

RESULTS 
The results obtained from this study on the agronomic performances of the three genotypes evaluated shows that there were 

significant differences among the genotypes on the plant height, number of leaves and leaf area at both 2 and 4 weeks after 

planting (Table 1). The height of the Calypso genotype at two weeks (15.55±0.85) and four weeks (25.09±1.07) respectively 

were significantly higher than the rest genotypes. The number of leaves of Calypso genotype at 2 weeks old (4.75±0.21) 

was not significantly higher than Poinset (4.38±0.21), but they were both significantly higher than the Murano (3.25±0.21), 

while at 4 weeks old, the number of leaves of the Calypso (9.50±0.38) was significantly higher than both Murano and 

Poinset genotypes. Also, the leaf area of the Calypso genotype (19.43±0.68) at 2 weeks old was significantly higher than 

both Murano and Poinset, however, at 4 weeks old, there were no significant differences between the leaf area of the Calypso 

genotype (23.53±0.83) and the Poinset genotype (21.60±0.83), but they were both statistically higher than the Murano 

genotype (13.60±0.83).  

 

Table 1. Agronomic performance of three genotypes of cucumber in hydroponics system 

 
Genotypes Plant height (cm) Number of leaves Leaf area (cm2) 

 Week 2 Week 4 Week 2 Week 4 Week 2 Week 4 

Calypso 15.55a 25.09a 4.75a 9.50a 19.43a 23.53a 

Murano 10.88b 13.89c 3.25b 6.75b 5.10c 13.60b 

Poinset 8.00c 20.83b 4.38a 7.75b 15.48b 21.60a 

LSD(0.05) 2.53 3.18 0.62 1.13 2.02 2.47 

SE 0.85 1.07 0.21 0.38 0.68 0.83 

Means with the same alphabet down the group are not significantly different from each other at 5 % level of significance. LSD: Least significant differences, 

SE: Standard error 

There were no significant differences among the genotypes on the number of days taken by the three genotypes of 

Calypso, Murano and Poinset to reach 50% flowering (Table 2). However, it took the Murano genotype an average of 

57.13±1.02 days to produce its first fruit, which was significantly higher than both Calypso (50.13±1.02) and Poinset 

(52.13±1.02) to produce their first fruits respectively. The number of fruits produced per plant by the Poinset genotype 

(6.88±0.57) was significantly higher than both Calypso (1.50±0.57) and Murano (2.13±0.57) respectively. Also, the weight 

of the cucumber fruits produced by Poinset (275.00±17.03) was significantly higher than both Calypso (171.25±17.03) and 

Murano (140.00±17.03) respectively. 

Table 2. Yield parameters of three genotypes of cucumber in hydroponics system 

Genotypes Days to 50% Flowering Days to Fruiting Number of Fruits Fruit Weight (g) 

Calypso 36.00a 50.13b 1.50b 171.25b 

Murano 38.38a 57.13a 2.13b 140.00b 

Poinset 35.25a 52.13b 6.88a 275.00a 

LSD(0.05) 4.2 3.03 1.69 50.59 

SE 1.41 1.02 0.57 17.03 

Means with the same alphabet down the group are not significantly different from each other at 5 % level of significance. LSD: Least significant differences, 

SE: Standard error. 



Ossai et al., American International Journal of Agricultural Studies 6(1) (2022), 8-11 

  

10 
 

The results obtained on the effect of the substrates used on the growth parameters of cucumber plants shows that 

the height of the plants at 2 weeks after planting was significant, and the topsoil (12.87±0.69) was significantly higher than 

the cocopeat (10.08±0.69) (Table 3). However, the plant height at 4 weeks after planting, number of leaves at 2 and 4 weeks 

after planting and leaf area at 2 and 4 weeks after planting respectively were not significant between topsoil and the cocopeat. 

Also, the two substrates were not significantly different from each other in the yield parameters evaluated (Table 4). 

Table 3. Effect of substrates and substrate by genotype interactions on the growth parameters of cucumber 

Substrates Plant height (cm) Number of leaves Leaf area (cm2) 

Week 2 Week 4  Week 2 Week 4 Week 2 Week 4 

Topsoil 12.87a 4.08a 14.07a 21.18a 7.83a 20.38a 

Cocopeat 10.08b 4.17a 12.60a 18.68a 8.17a 18.77a 

LSD(0.05) 2.07 0.51 1.65 2.6 0.93 2.02 

SE 0.69 0.17 0.56 0.88 0.31 0.68        

Genotype*Substrate NS NS NS NS * * 

Means with the same alphabet down the group are not significantly different from each other at 5 % level of significance. LSD: Least significant differences, 
SE: Standard error 

Table 4. Effect of substrates and substrate by genotype interactions on the yield parameters of cucumber 

Substrate Days to 50% 

Flowering 

Days to Fruiting Number of Fruits Fruit Weight (g) 

Topsoil 36.92a 54.08a 3.75a 176.25a 

Cocopeat 36.17a 52.17a 3.25a 214.58a 

LSD(0.05) 3.43 2.48 1.38 41.31 

SE 1.16 0.83 0.46 13.9      

Genotype*Substrate NS * * NS 

Means with the same alphabet down the group are not significantly different from each other at 5 % level of significance. LSD: Least significant differences, 
SE: Standard error. 

DISCUSSIONS 

The calypso genotype showed superior performance to other genotypes in the agronomic parameters evaluated at the early 

growth stages. However, as the plants age, the poinset genotype developed up to the calypso. The differences in the 

agronomic growth rate are as a result of the differences in their genotypic make up, and this agrees with the findings of 

Saheb et al. (2017). Despite, the superior agronomic characters shown by the calypso genotype, the flower and fruit 

development was faster in poinset, and this reflected in the highest number of fruit produced and their weight obtained from 

the poinset genotype as the fruits had more time to develop physiologically. However, the fruit weight obtained from the 

three genotypes is within the value recorded by Saheb et al. (2017) who worked with more genotypes. 

According to Colle et al. (2017), the size and shape of cucumber fruit is an important trait for its marketability, and 

these traits are determined by physiological processes during ovary and fruit growth (Tanksley, 2004) and studies have 

shown a correlation between the two by localizing their quantitative trait loci (QTL) (Weng et al., 2015). This account for 

the differences in fruit sizes observes in the three genotypes studied. 

Different substrate types have been reportedly used in cucumber production through the hydroponics system 

(Sarwar et al., 2018) and growing media affects plants morphology and productivity significantly (Ghazvini et al., 2007).  

In this study, both the cocopeat and topsoil substrates used performed equally in terms of the agronomic and yield parameters 

of the genotypes studied, and this strongly supports the findings of Sarwar et al. (2018) who reported a non-significant yield 

between topsoil and cocopeat substrate. 

 

CONCLUSION  

This study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of cocopeat substrate use in the hydroponics production of cucumber in 

Nigeria as a means of establishing an alternative to soil farming system. The findings so far showed that the cocopeat can 

be effectively used in the hydroponics production of cucumber in Nigeria with poinset producing biggest fruit among the 

genotypes and showing high adaptability to hydroponics farming. This opens up an alternative means of vegetable farming 

in Nigeria within ones home confinement with maximum security to circumvent the continued farm land disagreement with 

the herders. However, with cocopeat substrate being imported into the country as it’s not being produced locally, it is 

important to investigate other locally sourced substrates as an alternative to hydroponics production of different vegetables 

in Nigeria. 

 
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, C.O.O. and S.C.A.; Data Curation, S.C.A.; Methodology, C.O.O. and S.C.A.; Validation, C.O.O., S.C.A., 

I.S.A. and F.N.E.; Visualization, C.O.O., S.C.A., I.S.A. and F.N.E.; Formal Analysis, C.O.O. and S.C.A.; Investigation, C.O.O. and S.C.A.; Resources, 

C.O.O. and S.C.A.; Writing – Original Draft, C.O.O., S.C.A., I.S.A. and F.N.E.; Writing – Review & Editing, C.O.O. and F.N.E.; Supervision, C.O.O. 
and S.C.A.; Project Administration, C.O.O. and S.C.A.; Authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. 

Institutional Review Board Statement: Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, due to that the research does not deal with vulnerable 

groups or sensitive issues. 
Funding: The authors received no direct funding for this research. 

Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. 

Data Availability Statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available 
due to restrictions. 

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    



Ossai et al., American International Journal of Agricultural Studies 6(1) (2022), 8-11 

  

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