Abstract
• Integrated individual weights from entropy weight method and AHP through game theory. • Identified TSS and SSC as the most essential quality indicators. • Developed a comprehensive evaluation model for cucumber production. • Determination of the optimal water-nitrogen application combination and the optimal water and nitrogen application range. Excessive irrigation and fertilization, as well as imbalance between yield and quality are prevalent issues in facility fruit and vegetable production in North China Plain. To address this issue, we conducted a two-year and three-season experiment from 2024 to 2025 to investigate the impact of different combinations of nitrogen fertilizations and irrigation amounts on total aboveground biomass, aboveground plant nitrogen accumulation, yield and quality, as well as water and nitrogen use efficiency of cucumber in a greenhouse. The optimal irrigation and fertilization for achieving the best-balanced fruit yield, quality and resource use efficiency was identified using the weighted technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The weights in TOPSIS were estimated using the game theory that integrates the weights calculated from the subjective-weighted analytic hierarchy process and the objective-weighted entropy. Our results show that, while increasing irrigation amount enhanced total aboveground biomass (TAB), fruit yield and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFP n ), it reduced water use efficiency (WUE), and compromised fruit quality. We also found that optimized nitrogen application not only enhanced TAB, fruit yield, but also improved WUE, and that, total soluble solids and soluble sugar content were critical quality indicators of the cucumber. TOPSIS analysis showed that irrigating 100% of the evaporation measured from an adjustable 20cm-pan mounted 10∼15 cm above the canopy (E p-20 ) and fertilizing 360 kg·ha −1 of nitrogen achieved the highest relative closeness (Ci) in all three seasons in the two years. Further analysis indicated that irrigating 75%∼100% of E p-20 and applying 320∼370 kg·ha −1 of nitrogen can best balance yield, quality, WUE and PFP n for spring-cultivated cucumber, while for autumn-cultivated cucumber, irrigating 94%∼110% of E p-20 and applying 300∼370 kg·ha −1 of nitrogen is practically optimal. These practices not only achieved high fruit yields, but also improved fruit quality, offering an improved cultivation method for greenhouse cucumber production in the North China Plain.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing irrigation enhanced total aboveground biomass, fruit yield and nitrogen partial factor productivity of greenhouse cucumber.
- Taxon
- cucumber
Cucumis sativust1 - Treatment
- increasing irrigation amounte1
- Outcome
- total aboveground biomass (TAB), fruit yield and partial factor productivity of nitrogene1
- Direction
- enhancede1
- Setting
- greenhouset1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e1“while increasing irrigation amount enhanced total aboveground biomass (TAB), fruit yield and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFP n ), it reduced water use efficiency (WUE), and compromised fruit quality”
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing irrigation reduced water use efficiency of greenhouse cucumber.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- increasing irrigation amounte1
- Outcome
- water use efficiency (WUE)e1
- Direction
- reducede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e1“while increasing irrigation amount enhanced total aboveground biomass (TAB), fruit yield and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFP n ), it reduced water use efficiency (WUE), and compromised fruit quality”
Claim · model-written summary
Increasing irrigation compromised greenhouse cucumber fruit quality.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- increasing irrigation amounte1
- Outcome
- fruit qualitye1
- Direction
- compromisede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e1“while increasing irrigation amount enhanced total aboveground biomass (TAB), fruit yield and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFP n ), it reduced water use efficiency (WUE), and compromised fruit quality”
Claim · model-written summary
Optimized nitrogen application enhanced total aboveground biomass and fruit yield.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- optimized nitrogen applicatione2
- Outcome
- TAB, fruit yielde2
- Direction
- enhancede2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e2“optimized nitrogen application not only enhanced TAB, fruit yield, but also improved WUE”
Claim · model-written summary
Optimized nitrogen application improved water use efficiency of greenhouse cucumber.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- optimized nitrogen applicatione2
- Outcome
- WUEe2
- Direction
- improvede2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e2“optimized nitrogen application not only enhanced TAB, fruit yield, but also improved WUE”
Claim · model-written summary
Total soluble solids and soluble sugar content were the critical quality indicators of cucumber.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativuse3
- Outcome
- total soluble solids and soluble sugar contente3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“total soluble solids and soluble sugar content were critical quality indicators of the cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilizing 360 kg/ha nitrogen with irrigation at 100% of E p-20 achieved the highest relative closeness in all three seasons.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- irrigating 100% of the evaporation measured from an adjustable 20cm-pan mounted 10∼15 cm above the canopy (E p-20 ) and fertilizing 360 kg·ha −1 of nitrogene4
- Outcome
- relative closeness (Ci)e4
- Direction
- higheste4
- Setting
- all three seasonse4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e4“irrigating 100% of the evaporation measured from an adjustable 20cm-pan mounted 10∼15 cm above the canopy (E p-20 ) and fertilizing 360 kg·ha −1 of nitrogen achieved the highest relative closeness (Ci) in all three seasons”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigating 75%-100% of E p-20 and applying 320-370 kg/ha nitrogen best balances yield, quality, WUE and nitrogen PFP for spring-cultivated cucumber.
- Taxon
- spring-cultivated cucumberCucumis sativuse5
- Treatment
- applying 320∼370 kg·ha −1 of nitrogene5
- Outcome
- can best balance yield, quality, WUE and PFP ne5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e5“irrigating 75%∼100% of E p-20 and applying 320∼370 kg·ha −1 of nitrogen can best balance yield, quality, WUE and PFP n for spring-cultivated cucumber”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigating 94%-110% of E p-20 and applying 300-370 kg/ha nitrogen is practically optimal for autumn-cultivated cucumber.
- Taxon
- autumn-cultivated cucumberCucumis sativuse6
- Treatment
- irrigating 94%∼110% of E p-20 and applying 300∼370 kg·ha −1 of nitrogene6
- Outcome
- practically optimale6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e6“for autumn-cultivated cucumber, irrigating 94%∼110% of E p-20 and applying 300∼370 kg·ha −1 of nitrogen is practically optimal”
Claim · model-written summary
The practices improved greenhouse cucumber fruit quality.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- These practicese7
- Outcome
- fruit qualitye7
- Direction
- improvede7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e7“These practices not only achieved high fruit yields, but also improved fruit quality”
Claim · model-written summary
The practices achieved high greenhouse cucumber fruit yields.
- Taxon
- cucumberCucumis sativust1
- Treatment
- These practicese7
- Outcome
- fruit yieldse7
- Direction
- highe7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t1“greenhouse cucumbers”
e7“These practices not only achieved high fruit yields, but also improved fruit quality”
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Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.