Influence of Production Environments on Phenolic Contents in Cucumber Fruit

This study aims to determine how production environments differing in temperature, light intensity and UV radiation influence the total phenolic contents (TPC) in cucumber fruit. Three commercial varieties were grown under four different production environments—open field (OF), net house (NH), passive solar greenhouse with polycarbonate covering (GH-Polycarbonate) and passive solar greenhouse with polyethylene covering (GH-Polyethylene) in trans-Himalayan Ladakh. Fruits harvested on the same day were evaluated for TPC. A marked difference in TPC was observed in cucumber grown under the four production environments. The mean TPC was recorded in the following order from high to low: OF (16.7 ± 2.5) > GH-Polyethylene (15.1 ± 2.7) > NH (13.8 ± 1.9) > GH-Polycarbonate (11.4 ± 2.2 mg GAE/100 g FW). We observed that environmental condition exhibit a major role than genotypic effect on fruit TPC in the case of cucumber. Our results suggest that the production environment had a dominant role in cucumber composition beyond the natural genetic variation amongst varieties. Cucumber grown under open fields with high light intensity, high UV radiation and low temperature has elevated levels of phenolics as compared with greenhouse- and shade net-grown crops.