Received: 16-06-2016 / Accepted: 10-10-2016
Thisresearch was carried out to evaluate drought tolerance of 32 varieties of native cucumber in Vietnam. The seedlings were grown in pots containing 5 kg of mixture (soil + coconut fiber, ratio 1: 2) with basal fertilizerof CaO:N:P2O5: K2O with: 10: 2: 2: 1.5g, respectively, per pot. All pots were placed in a nethouse. The moisture of the pots were maintained at 80-85% of saturation at all time except at stress stage. In stress-treatment, watering of 2-expanded-leaf seedlings were withheld10 days, then watered again. The results showed that, drought reduced leaf number, leaf area, plant height, and shoot diameter in most non-tolerantvarieties ( low DRI). The drought-tolerant varieties (DRI> 1), had a slight reduction of leaf number but had a strong reduction of leaf area, that might help reduceevaporation. In these varieties, however,there was onlya slight reduction of shoot diameter that might notlimitwater-transportation. The result also showed that 13 varieties had good drought tolerance, which could be used as the materialsfor breeding of droughtresistance.
