الفهرس 
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Abstract
Cucumber is a favourite vegetable crop in Egypt. It occupied about 37761 and
A402i feddans. in 19.92 and. l993, whiGh-yielded 2703-10 and-297562•tons, respectively
(according to statistical data of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1992 & 1993).
Within the !ast years, cucumber has become the main crop in greenhouses m
Egypt, due to the higher production and monetary returns. However, there are some
problems which may face cucumber production in plastic greenhouses generally, such
as soil texture, soil salinity, excessive low temperature in winter and soilborne diseases.
Grafting, proved. having many benefits to plants grown in greenhouses, such as
increasing tolerance to low temperature and soil salinity and resistance to soil borne
diseases; also enhancing water and nutrient uptake and increasing plant vigor and yields.
Grafted seedlings, therefore. are used commonly in commercial vegetable culture in
some countries such as Korea and Japan, both in outdoor and in greenhouses, where
farming is very intensive and the farms are small (Kurata, l994 and Lee, 1994).
Some organic substrates like peat moss and straw are becoming, for their great
benefits, extremely popular for soilless plant growing, under plastic. In Egypt, it is
difficult to use the peat moss because of its high costs. However, straw is an avaiiabie
local natural substrate. Straw may be used alone, or mixed with soil where it can help
in improving some soil properties, such as increasing water storage capacity in sandy
soil, improving aeration in clay soil and increasing soil temperature in winter (following
straw decomposition).
So, the main objective of this work was to study the effect of grafting cucumber
plants onto Cucurbita ficifolia rootstock, and the possibility of using straw bales,
prepared in different positions added to peat moss bags (as cultivation substrates) , aiming
to improve cucumber production and avoid the usc of soil fumigation by chemicais, in
plastic greenhouses, under Kafr EI-Sheikh conditions.